Of Maidens, Marines and other Mysteries
by Cygolino
Summary: After a nearly disastrous first assignment, Alliance Lieutenant Cyra Shepard, the famous heroes' Asari daughter, is sent to a remote outpost to allow her to come to terms with past events. What will she find on this entirely unremarkable planet? Well, quite the surprise for starters. Multiple OCs. Rated M for language, adult themes and situations, as well as graphic violence.
1. Chapter 1

Hello there, everybody.

So this was just a silly idea I had one day and expanded on while I was writing it. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with this however. I suppose it depends on whether you people like it or not :)

* * *

The sub machine gun was pointed at Cyra's head, it's muzzle less than a meter away.

"You should have finished me off, Shepard." The Human's ice blue eyes glittered coldly behind the gun sight. "Chivalry is something one can't afford in our line of work."

"Pity." His finger squeezed the trigger, the gun kicked and in a flash of light, the young asari suddenly found herself sitting in the passenger seat of an alliance shuttle, panting heavily.

"Damn it." Cyra breathed as she leaned back, trying to relax. She rubbed her weary eyes for a moment then reached down to get a plastic bottle out of her duffle bag. The asari maiden poured some water onto her hand and splashed it into her face. The nightmares came somewhat less often as of late but still frequently enough that she sometimes dreaded to go to sleep. Cyra stared out the small window next to her seat, thinking up some new cusswords for alliance intelligence in general and its late director in particular. The worst thing about it was that she actually understood why Fisher had unleashed hell. If what'd happened to his sister had happened to one of her own siblings...

The young asari shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. That was a thing of the past and she'd preferred if it stayed that way. At least her new assignment promised to be far less exciting. The shuttle's destination was about as remote as it could get within citadel space. The solar system in question didn't even have a proper name yet. Only an alphanumeric code which Cyra found hard to memorize. It was, as her uncle Joker had put it, 'the perfect place to lie low for a while until this all blows over'. The only thing note out there was a minor archaeological dig on one of the inner planets, somebody considered important enough to protect with a single platoon of marines. Most of the men and women stationed down there, she'd read the personnel files earlier, probably wanted nothing more than to get away from this dull place. As far as she was concerned, the more boring this assignment was the better. It would allow her to come to terms with what'd happened.

The Asari maiden stood up, stretched for a moment, then walked forward to the shuttle's cockpit.

"Chief, what's our ETA?" She asked the shuttle pilot, a young human woman.

"We're not quite there yet." The Chief replied after checking her instruments briefly. "Around two hours, give or take."

"Okay thanks, Chief." Cyra hesitated for a second before asking: "Mind if I take a seat beside you?"

"Not at all Lieutenant." The Human said with a smile. "I could use some company."

"Yeah, me too." The Asari muttered.

"Had a rough time, Sir?" The Chief asked after Cyra'd settled into the co-pilot seat.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard you moaning a few times." The pilot explained. "I came back to see if you were all right once. It looked like you had a pretty bad nightmare."

"I did." Cyra stared out the cockpit window. "Did I say anything?"

"No Sir. You were just moaning and rolling your head from one side to the other." The chief glanced over curiously. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"It's classified." Cyra said curtly.

"I see."

* * *

Marine Corporal Michael Leh sighed softly as he ran his hand through his wet, brown hair, looking out the window. He'd just taken a shower after working out for more than two hours. It wasn't that he enjoyed physical training so much, there was just not a whole lot else one could do oh his off duty hours on this god forsaken rock. The scenery outside did nothing to improve his mood either. The planet's atmosphere was too thin for a biosphere to develop. Therefore the whole world was basically one rust coloured dirt ball. In fact the barren surface looked remarkably similar to Mars. The only thing of interest here were the underground ruins a prospecting team had stumbled across by chance and even those had quickly lost their appeal to the twenty-three year old, fun-loving human.

"'Join the Corps, you'll get to see the far reaches of the galaxy with all it's wonders and all it's mysteries. ', they said." He mumbled sourly. "It'll be one continuous adventure', they said. Fucking assholes."

As he was finishing getting dressed, the Corporal thought about what to do. Getting drunk was not an option. He was due to pull a three hour guard shift in a bit over an hour. Besides, until the next resupply shuttle arrived, there was barely any booze to be found around the base anyway. Those bloody shuttle jockeys. He was convinced those guys were making a fortune, getting some extra alcohol to the troops in remote outposts. They'd certainly gotten quite a bit of his pay on their last run.

His growling stomach reminded him he'd better get something to eat before his shift. As he made his way through the grey, metal corridors he thought about using some of his extranet ration to try to get a real time connection to his girlfriend on the other side of the galaxy. He could use a little cheering up, that was for certain. He would have to check the local times first though. He could never remember those.

Michael was quite surprised to find one of his room mates, staring at a computer screen, in the otherwise empty canteen.

"Hey Kenny." The other man flinched slightly as he was being addressed. "Aren't you supposed to be on duty in space traffic control?"

"I was." Private first class Kenji Watanabe, one of the platoon's techs, replied. "I was relieved ten minutes ago."

"Anything interesting going on?"

"Well, let's see." Kenji shrugged indifferently. "A few reapers dancing tango, a pulsar playing classic music and a couple of space monsters playing table tennis with asteroids. That's about it"

"Ah just another fine day on the most exciting planet in the galaxy, I see." The Corporal chuckled softly.

"Yeah, all quiet on the western front." Kenji said absently said, looking at the screen. "Except our new platoon leader is inbound. Should be landing any minute now."

Michael's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Okay that _is_ interesting. I almost thought HQ had forgotten about our officer shortage."

"Yeah, the Chief was probably hoping something like that as well. " The tech's shoulders sagged a little. "She didn't sound to happy when I told her and...and...yes! She's online!"

"What?" The Corporal wondered what Kenji was talking about. He moved around the table to take a look at the screen his buddy had been staring at all the time. "What are you doing anyway? Oy, is that a live cam site?"

"Yeah, errr..." Kenji's ears reddened somewhat. "I errr... just established a real time connection and..."

"You're blowing your real time ration on this?" Michael was genuinely surprised to hear that.

"What else am I going to use it for?" Kenji replied. "I don't have a girlfriend like you and I don't feel the need to talk to my folks directly. A regular vid mail does the job just fine."

"Okay, ain't my business anyway, but are you sure you wanna hummm...do it here? Lack of privacy and all?"

"There's not a whole lot of privacy to be found around here. I can't kick the others out of our room just because I want to watch a cam girl can I?" Kenji said rubbing the back of his neck. " Besides I ain't planning to jack off or anything. I just need to hear a woman's voice is all."

"There are quite a few women in our outfit." The Corporal reminded his room mate.

"Okay, I need to hear a _friendly _woman's voice."

"I see." Michael put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "No dice with the Chief hm?"

"No. Not a chance." Kenji sighed with a shrug. He tried to appear indifferent but it was painfully obvious that the rejection bothered the nineteen year old. Michael gently shook the other man. Of all the women on this god forsaken rock the kid had to fall for the unattainable one. Gunnery Chief Adiga was too much a by the book kind of marine to get into a relationship with one of her subordinates.

"Don't take it personal, man." Michael said softly. He liked the young tech. "I mean, you know the regs, right?"

"Yeah I know. It's just...I was kinda hoping..." He sighed again. "Ah hell, I don't know what I was hoping. I don't know what I was thinking. Sucks to be me I guess."

"Hey, come on, bro. You'll find a girlfriend. You know there's some good looking women over at the scientist camp. Why don't you go and check 'em out?"

"The scientists?" Kenji said, looking even more depressed. "Those are classy ladies. What would they want with a common grunt like me?"

"Hey, Angela is a classy girl and I am just as common a grunt as you are."

"Well yeah, you're a lucky guy Mike."

"You're damn right I am." The Corporal agreed. "But that luck didn't just come to me, you know. You think I seriously believed a diplomat's daughter would go for someone like me? No fucking way I didn't, but I gave it a shot anyway."

"But..."

"Look, Kenny. All the luck in the universe isn't going to help if you don't take a chance. So it didn't work out with the Chief. Yes, it sucks but life goes on. Try, try again – Jeez I'm beginning to sound like my dad."

Kenji chuckled softly. His mood seemed to improve somewhat.

"And if them scientist dames give you the cold shoulder." Michael continued. "I think there are two or three women in the platoon who're single."

"Really? Who?"

"Well I'm pretty sure Johanson is." Mike grinned, referring to one of the platoon's heavy weapons specialists.

"Jesus!" Kenji blurted out."Are you trying to get me killed or something?"

"No, just trying to help." The Corporal said, looking as innocent as he possibly could.

"Why thank you. But I think I'd prefer a girlfriend I had a chance to survive having sex with."

"I'm sure she can be gentle if she wants to." Mike said. "Don't get picky on me now, bro."

"She's almost a full head taller than me, man." The tech scratched the back of his head. "And those thighs of hers...She could crush a Krogan with them."

"Well, nobody is perfect. Are you looking for a girlfriend or not?"

"Okay, okay you've made your point." Kenji said. "I'll go and try my luck with the scientists."

"You do that." Mike said, tapping on the younger man's shoulders. "'Cause otherwise I'm going have to tell Johanson you find her cute."

"Don't you dare!" Kenji exclaimed as the other man laughed out loud. "I'll do it. I will. Now, could you please get out of my hair so I can enjoy the show?"

"Okay. But just so you know: I ain't gonna let you off the hook on this one." The Corporal grinned. He took a closer look at the screen and let go a whistle."Whoa she's a cutie. I had no idea you preferred Asaris, bro."

"I don't 'prefer' Asaris." The PFC's face lit up as he talked about the alien woman on the screen. "I just like her. She's a really nice girl and very smart to boot."

"Sounds like you've been in her chat room before."

"Yeah, ummm..." Kenji blushed slightly. "I guess you could say I'm a regular of hers."

"Seriously?" Mike couldn't suppress a snicker. "Yeah, we definitely need to get you a girlfriend."

"Oh shut up, will ya?" The younger man growled. "I'm always having a good time in her room. There's nothing more to it than that okay? I mean, I may be desperate but I ain't _that _desperate."

"I would never suggest such a thing." The Corporal grinned mischievously looking a the screen. Suddenly his eyes narrowed. "That's odd."

"What?"

"Somehow she looks familiar." Mike said thoughtfully rubbing his upper lip.

"Well ain't that nice! You're making fun of me..."

"Nononono!" Mike interrupted his room mate, waving around his index finger in front of the other man's face. "I've never been on this site, that much I can tell you for certain."

"Have you met her in real life then?" Kenji asked curiously giving his favourite cam girl a closer look himself.

"No. I'd definitely remember that." The Corporal replied as he absently shook his head. "I just...You know what? Forget it. I'm probably just imagining things."

"Okaaaay." Kenji drawled, not entirely convinced.

"She can't hear us can she?"

"Nope, voice chat is only enabled in a private show."

"Right." Mike rubbed his hands, the mischievous grin creeping onto his face once more. "Then why don't we spend some of our meagre salary, take her to private and have fun? You don't mind me staying, do you?"

"No, of course not. But what about your girlfriend?"

"Hey, Angie's always said it was okay to look."

* * *

"Do you want me to get the platoon together so you can introduce yourself, Lieutenant?" Gunnery Chief Adiga asked, standing in the small room's doorway.

"There's no hurry." Cyra said, was suppressing a yawn as she put her bag down on the bed. "I'd rather do that when I'm properly rested. Let me settle in and get some sleep first." The young asari checked the time, making certain it was set to local. "Meet me in the ops center at 1000 hours. I'll need a run down of your local procedures before I address the platoon."

"Aye aye, Sir." The tanned woman said. "Anything else?"

Cyra pondered for a moment. "No, that'll be all for now, Chief. Thank you."

"Not too happy to see me." Cyra mumbled softly, sitting down on the bed after the automatic door had closed behind the human woman. No surprise there. The Chief had been in charge ever since the former platoon leader had been caught selling some of the base supplies to an old acquaintance of his. For several months the senior NCO had been running the show here. It was only natural that she wasn't too keen on the prospect of getting bossed around by an officer once again. The Asari maiden shrugged. She'd worry about that later.

Cyra took off her helmet and put it down next to her. She seriously thought about going to sleep without taking the rest of her armor off. No, that was a bad idea. Sleeping in one's armor was usually not very restorative and if she wanted to take a shower, which she did, she'd eventually have to take it off anyway. Besides she was quite hungry. She called up the base layout on her omni tool, looking for the mess. She'd get a snack and then some sack time. The shower could wait.

The young maiden was relieved that she didn't meet anybody wandering through the prefab corridors. She wasn't in the mood for more introductions right now. There were two marines in sitting in front of a small computer screen in the mess but neither of them took notice of her entering the room. Intending to keep it that way, Cyra moved across the room as silently as she could.

"Yeah, take if off, baby." One of them said, just as the was passing behind them.

_'What?' _The young asari stopped and took a look at the screen, more out of curiosity than anything else. What her marines were doing in their off time was after all none of her business. The screen showed one of her own kind comfortably resting on a bed, wearing a t-shirt that was at least one size too small. Cyra's jaw dropped as the other Asari sat up and ran her hands seductively over her body before she slowly took the t-shirt off.

_'No way.' _The Lieutenant thought, staring at the screen. One of the marines let go a soft whistle as the camera zoomed in on the Asari's face and chest.

"What the hell...?" Cyra blurted out unintentionally.

"Huh?" Both marines simultaneously turned their heads as they finally realized that there was someone standing right next to them.

"Oh shit." One of them exclaimed, his eyes widening, when he saw the rank insignia of a First Lieutenant on the asari maiden's combat suit.

"ON YOUR FEET!" Cyra roared. "BOTH OF YOU! AND SWITCH THAT...THAT THING OFF!"

* * *

Half an hour later Michael and Kenji stumbled into their quarters, panting and coughing heavily, barging in on a few of their squad mates playing poker,

"Oy! What happened to you guys?" The other marines immediately started to snicker as their buddys tried to catch their breaths. "Did you run a bloody marathon in your suits or something?"

"We just met our new Lieutenant." Michael replied dryly after he'd recovered somewhat.

"Really?" The snickering stopped. "HQ sent us a hardass? Great."

"'We're going for a run outside', she said." Kenji groaned as he took off his helmet. "'And you better keep up', she said."

"Oh, it's a she?"

"Yeah." Mike said carefully sitting down on his bed. "You'll never guess who we got."

"Eh? What can be so special about our new CO?" One of the poker players wondered.

"I'll give you a hint." Kenji replied wiping the sweat off his forehead. "She's a First Lieutenant, she's an Asari and she's an N7. Ring any bells?"

"Why would they send a special forces Lieutenant out here?" The marines sitting at the table were at a loss as they looked at one another for a few moments. "This bloody rock is hardly...No way!" One of them eventually exclaimed as he looked at his comrades with a wide open mouth.

"Yep."

"Shepard is here? THE Shepard, the big man's daughter?"

"Yep." Mike confirmed making a face. "And she's in shape I can tell you that for a fact."

"Okay, what the hell did you guys do?"

"Nothing man!" Kenji defended himself. "We were just chilling in the canteen, watching a umm... watching a live show and suddenly she stood behind us." The PFC shrugged helplessly. "Yeah why did she flip out like that? It's not as if we were supposed to be on duty or anything."

"Beats me." Mike said as he took off his leg armor and began to massage his aching thighs. He'd been wondering about that as well. There was something nagging in the back of his mind. A feeling as if he should know but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Where had he seen that Asari before?

"Anyway, I got a guard shift to pull." The Corporal reluctantly put the armor back on and stood up. "Have fun in the meantime."

* * *

At the same time 'the big man's daughter' stormed into her room and threw her helmet onto the bed. For a few moments she paced around restlessly then she sat down at the computer console, falling onto the chair forcefully enough to make it screech in protest. The holographic screen came online, filling the room with it's soft, amber glow. The computer interface was standard. She'd used ones like it thousands of times. However in her agitated state it took a bit of fumbling around to get through the procedure of establishing a real time connection to Earth. What was the name of that bloody university again? Ah yes, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cyra typed in a few additional commands then leaned back, staring at the screen.

_'Establishing Connection, Please wait.'_ It said.

"Yes, yes come on." The maiden growled softly, impatiently running her hands over her thighs. "Massachusetts? What the hell kind of a name is that anyway?"

_'Connection established, Waiting for reply.'_

"Come on, pick up you little..." Cyra paced around the small room some more.

The room, that eventually replaced the text message, looked pretty much exactly as it had thirty, forty minutes ago. Except that the Asari, sitting on the bed wasn't shoving her breasts into the camera.

"Hey sis!" Ashley Shepard said with a friendly smile. "That's a nice surprise. I really didn't expect..."

Cyra whirled around. "Ash! Are you out of your goddamned mind!?" She snarled angrily.

"Whoa!" Ashley's smile disappeared as she recoiled from her sister's fury, raising her hands in a defensive gesture. "What did I do?"

"Don't give me that Ash!" Cyra snapped, glaring at her younger sibling. "I'm talking about your appearance on this godawful T&amp;A cam site!"

Ashley gaped at her sister's image in astonishment. "Wha...How do you know about that?" She reached out of frame to pick up a data pad and began to type hectically. "This thing didn't go public, did it?"

"I caught two of my marines leering at you half an hour ago, damn it!"

"Hang on a minute. That was you shouting in the background!?" The younger Asari dropped the pad, threw her head back and broke out in uproarious laughter. "I thought that foghorn sounded familiar!"

"That's not funny Ash!"

"Yes it is!" Still shaking with laughter, Ashley could barely speak. "Oh man! Too bad you were not in the frame! The look on your face! Oh I wished I could have seen that."

"Ash!"

"What?" Ashley asked between fits of giggles. She seemed to be largely untouched by her older sister's anger. "Why are you so mad at me?"

"You were flaunting your boobs in front of a camera!"

"What's the big deal?" The younger Shepard shrugged nonchalantly. "If people like your boys pay to see my breasts, so what? It's not like there's any actual contact."

"But..."

"Look, Big C, take it easy okay? You're getting way too worked up over this." Ashley shifted a bit, getting herself into a more comfortable position. "Most of the people come to my room for a bit of harmless fun. Your boys, for example, were more interested in talking than anything else."

"Sure." Cyra snorted sarcastically. "You only took your t-shirt off because it was so hot in your room, right?"

"Oh they did ask me to get naked before you so rudely interrupted us." Ashley grinned lewdly. "But for the most part we just had a chat. Sure, not everyone is as nice as your boys were. But hey, dealing with the assholes is part of the job."

"Assholes as in...?"

"You know, people calling me all sorts of names." The younger asari shrugged again. "Or the guys who're like: 'hey babe, let's meet IRL. I got creds...' And of course there's the occasional Knight in shining armor."

"The what?"

"The 'oh no a nice girl like you shouldn't have to display her body for men to drool over' type of people." Ashley said in a mocking tone of voice. "'Let me save you from this depraved existence'. Those are the worst actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah they pretend to want to help, but what they probably really want is the girl for themselves." For a moment Ashley's beautiful features twisted in disgust. "As if any of us needed help from a random, self-righteous fuck. Anyway it's no big deal. If people are pestering me I just kick them out of my room but usually I don't even have to do that. Most of the time they're getting yelled at by the others and leave on their own."

Ashley leaned against the wall and smiled. "Honestly I don't understand why you're so upset Sis. I've got full control over what's going on in my room. Nobody can force me to do anything I don't want. People get to ogle but they don't get to touch. The job leaves me plenty of time to study and on top of that it's also fun more often than it isn't. So what's the problem again?"

Thinking about it a little more thoroughly Cyra suddenly found herself wondering about that too. She stared at the screen. When had Ashley become so damn sexy? She had always been the nerdy one of the bunch. The proverbial bookworm, she'd never worried too much about the way she looked. Until she'd set foot on Earth, it seemed.

"Ash. We're Shepards." Cyra said in a much more gentle tone of voice. "I mean, we can't just do...whatever."

"Why not? I'm not doing anything illegal after all, am I?" Ashley replied. "And Dad's always told us that we shouldn't let our name get in the way of things we wanted to do, has he not?"

"Yeah, he has." Cyra admitted. "But somehow I doubt Dad had prancing around naked in front of a camera in mind when he said that."

"Probably not." The younger maiden agreed with a chuckle. "But hey, it's not so far away from what Rhea is doing and I don't remember him object to that. Not too much anyway." She added referring to their modelling sibling.

"You didn't tell him, I assume?"

"No, I didn't." For the first time in the call Ashley seemed to be a little uncomfortable as she absently chased a fly away. She sighed softly. "I didn't want to risk him going into over-protective mode and have the site nuked or something. Mum knows tough."

"Oh?" Cyra quizzically looked at her sister's image.

"Yeah I had to explain why I didn't need an allowance any more." The younger asari said with a dismissive gesture.

"How did Mum react?"

"She wasn't exactly thrilled." Ashley folded her hands behind her head and stretched thoroughly. The pure eroticism of the scene would have made a lot of jaws drop, had she been online. "But when I told her more about it, what it does and doesn't involve me doing, she didn't seem to mind too much. I don't think she would have promised not to tell Dad otherwise."

"I see." Cyra deflated when the last remnants of her anger evaporated. "Ah shit." She groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Are you all right, Sis?"

"Yeah I'm fine." The older asari said with a yawn as she leaned back and stared a the ceiling. "Look, Ash, I'm sorry I shouted at you. It's just...I was, I _am_ tired. I came straight from a twenty hour shuttle flight, I haven't had a good night's sleep in a while and seeing those marines leer at you was quite the surprise. To put it mildly."

"I can imagine." Ashley laughed.

"I guess I overreacted a little."

"Hey, no worries Big C. What are siblings there for if not to yell at them every once in a while."

Cyra smiled ruefully. "Made a complete and total ass out of myself in front of my new command. Way to make a first impression Cyra, way to go."

"Well, it was only those two guys right?"

"Ash, soldiers are chatterboxes. It won't be long before the whole bloody base knows about my little tantrum."

"Ouch." Ashley threw her older sister a sympathetic look. "Well, if it helps and the damage isn't already done, tell those two they can get a free show in my room every once in a while."

"Are you crazy?" Cyra asked incredulously. "So that everyone in the platoon knows their new CO's sister is stripping on the extranet?"

"I do more than just stripping." Ashley grinned impishly. "But that's beside the point. The offer only applies if they keep their mouths shut of course."

Cyra squinted briefly at the holographic image and began to chuckle helplessly. The whole situation was just too absurd. "Look Ask, I appreciate you trying to help me. I really do. But I screwed this up and I'll straighten it out. Besides, I can't just 'bribe' my marines with your hmm... services."

"I understand, making that offer could feel a wee bit awkward." Ashley's eyes sparkled playfully. The young Asari seemed to enjoy herself immensely. "But hey, whatever works right?"

"I can't do that. It would feel like I was abusing you."

"Bullshit!" Ashley said forcefully. "I came up with this, didn't I?"

"Yes, but still..."

"Look Sis, I don't need you to protect me, least of all from my own ideas." The younger asari's eyes narrowed a bit. "Your boys were nice. To give them a free show once or twice a month would certainly not feel like an abuse to me, don't you worry about that."

There was a pause in the conversation and Cyra could hear the sound of an opening door coming from her sisters camera feed.

"Honey are you about ready?" A female voice asked as Ashley turned her head, looking away from the camera. "We're supposed to be on in a few."

"I'll be right there. Five minutes okay?"

"Sure."

"Who was that?" Cyra asked curiously.

"My dorm mate." Ashley smiled. "She's the one who got me into this."

"Another Asari?"

"Na, Rose is Human."

"Honey?"

"No, we're not together." The younger Shepard laughed merrily. "She calls pretty much everybody like that."

"I see." Cyra briefly massaged her temples. "Ash?"

"Hm?"

"How come no one knows about your hmm...online adventures?"

"Us being part of one of the galaxy's most well known families and all?"

"Yeah."

"You're the famous one here Big C not me." Ashley reminded her older sister. "Everybody knows who you are. Everybody knows who Rhea is. On the other hand, Hannah and I are largely unknown. I mean there are only a handful of pictures and vids of me floating around the extranet and in most of them the camera is focused on somebody else." She pointed at her face. "And as you can see I'm wearing pretty heavy make-up. "

"I noticed." Cyra smiled weakly. "But I doubt that's going to fool people."

"It won't fool somebody who knows me IRL that's for certain." Ashley agreed. "However it should work on people who've only seen my face on a picture or two."

"It might. But come on Ash, don't kid yourself. Sooner or later someone will recognize you and I don't have to tell you what's going to happen then, do I?"

"Look Sis, I'm not planning to do this forever. I'll play the virtual sex doll until I graduate. So basically for another year or two. After that I'll get myself a 'normal' job - whatever that's supposed to mean. I do think there's a decent chance that this thing will stay under the rug until then. Hell, barely anybody here on campus knows who I really am."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, just the dean, a few of the professors and my closest friends here. That's it. If anybody else has found out they didn't dare to come forward so far."

"I see." Cyra said slowly. "Sounds like you've got this all figured out."

"Not really. I don't want this to go viral, believe me, but I'm prepared to deal with it if it does." Ashley absently scratched a spot on her right shoulder. "Anyway that's my cross to bear. Nothing you need to burden yourself with. I seem to remember that you have your own problems to solve." Ashley said, her grin returning.

"Isn't that right." The Asari Lieutenant mumbled. "All right, Ash I'll leave you to it. Have fun shaking your ass into a camera."

"Aaand my boobs." Ashley couldn't resist to tease her older sibling a little more. "Aaand my pus..."

"I get it, thank you!" Cyra barked, drawing a guffaw from the other end of the line.

"Come on Sis, lighten up a bit. You seem to be awfully tense. When was the last time you had sex hm?"

"What? That's none of your business!"

"It's been that long ago hm?" Ashley was absolutely merciless.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Hey, why don't you get yourself some action? It might help you to unwind a bit. You know one of the guys you shouted at has been in my room several times and I'm pretty sure he's looking for a girlfriend so..."

Ashley had of course meant it as a joke and Cyra knew it, but something about the harmless quip triggered a massive response in the older Asari's brain. The memories came back with the force of a supernova. Memories of fire fights, interrogations, the sheer lunacy of carrying along one of her soldiers' severed arm. Memories of _him!_ His letter home, the kiss, an Asari Lieutenant finding herself unable to do what she was supposed to.

She turned her head away from the screen, covering her mouth with both hands as her entire upper body stared to shake violently. Tears escaped from her closed eyes, rolling down both of her cheeks.

"I can't." She managed to say between sobs. "It's too soon...I can't..."

She pressed her fist against her forehead as she regained some measure of control over her senses. Fighting for her composure she turned back to face her sister, panting harder than she had during the run earlier.

"Ah, shit." She whispered as she found Ashley stare at her wide eyed. The younger Shepard looked completely and utterly shocked.

"Jesus Sis!" Ashley stammered. "I'm so sorry...I...I...I didn't mean to...I mean I had no idea...I..."

"It's fine, Ash." Cyra had to suppress more sobs as the wiped the tears off her face. She took a few deep breaths. "It's not your fault."

"What in the nine hells happened to you?" Ashley asked incredulously. She'd never seen her eldest sibling lose it like that before. The sight had been disturbing to say the least.

"I can't talk about it." Cyra bent down to drag a trash bin over, spitting into it several times to try and get rid of the bitter taste in her mouth. "It's classified."

"Hon, are you coming?"

"I'll be right there, Rosie." Ashley clearly felt bad about having to bail on her sister. "Sorry, Sis, I have to go. I..."

"It's okay Ash." Cyra raised a hand, interrupting the younger maiden. "I'll be all right, don't worry. Have fun with your show. I mean it! Have fun."

"Thanks." Ashley reached for the button to terminate the connection. "Look Cyra, if you need someone to talk to, whatever you can and want to talk about, call me okay?"

"I will." Cyra smiled. "Thanks Sis. See you around."

As the screen went black, showing only the small stand by symbol, the Asari maiden leaned back in her chair and tried to relax for a few moments. She stood up and slowly walked over the the bathroom, picking up her helmet on the way. A few handfuls of water removed all signs that she'd been crying. She stared into the mirror for a second, thinking about what to do next. To go to sleep was out of the question right now. She was simply too agitated. Cyra figured it was probably a good idea to go find the two marines before people started talking behind her back. What were their names again? Ah yes, Leh and Watanabe. She was also thinking of taking a look at the dig site. There was nothing an Asari Lieutenant, suffering from partial insomnia, could screw up there - right?

Yes, a little tour of the dig site sounded like a good idea.

What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

And that, as they say, is that.

I hope you had a little bit of fun with my writing. Any feedback, be it positive or not, would be appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everybody.

So yeah, I've decided to continue with this. The story hasn't fully formed in my mind yet so the time between additional chapters may vary.

* * *

"Officer on deck!"

The men in the room jumped to their feet and snapped to attention as they saw the Asari Lieutenant standing in the door. Watanabe needed a little longer than the others to get himself upright, Cyra noticed, groaning as he did maiden smirked inwardly at the sight but also felt a little stupid.

"At ease, marines."

Instantly the men adopted a more relaxed posture, slightly turning their heads to take a look at the Asari maiden. Cyra gave them a few moments to try and size up their new platoon leader. For the most part she could see cautious curiosity and quite a bit of admiration in their eyes. Even if one ignored the name tag and N7 symbol emblazoned on her breastplate, the Asari was an impressive looking member of her species. Taller than all but one of the men in the room she wore the heavy suit of armour with an ease and a grace that was unusual.

"I assume, you've heard of my...arrival?" She asked with a thin smile and nodded towards Private Watanabe.

The marines exchanged quick glances as Kenji uneasily stepped from one foot to the other. "Yes, Sir. We have." One of them said.

"Figures." The young Asari said as she threw a look at the small table full of cards. "As you were - Not you!" She added when Kenji got ready to sit down. "You're coming with me." She beckoned the Private over.

"Yes, Sir." Cyra had to bite her tongue in order not to grin openly when she saw him swallow hard. _'I gotta try and get him to loosen up a bit. The poor kid looks like he's on the way to his execution.'_ She thought amusedly.

Aloud she said: "Don't worry, Private, everything is fine. We'll not go for another run. But we are going outside again so bring your helmet. Have fun the rest of you."

The marines exchanged telling looks after the door had closed behind their squad mate. "This is not going to end well for Kenny." One of them predicted.

* * *

'Is DeepBlue okay?'

Rose Cavanaugh suppressed a frown as she read the chat message. Something was up with Ashley today, something serious enough that quite a few messages of concern were mixed in with the usual 'show your tits, show this and that, do this, do that.' From the moment, the maiden had joined her on the bed Rose had known that something not right. She had even offered to do the show alone but Ashley had insisted to go through with it. However now that the viewers were picking up on it the young woman seriously considered to abort the show.

The small fan on the nightstand buzzed softly, stirring up the warm air. The stage, as Rose liked to call her bed these days, was about as well lit as it could get within the budget she had to work with. Not quite professional quality but close enough. Ashley and her had done most the set up themselves. A dozen high quality cameras, each about the size of a thumb, were distributed all around the bed, allowing the viewers to choose the angle from which they wanted to watch the action.

The young human gently kissed and caressed the inside of Ashley's soft thighs as she slowly worked her way toward the hotspot between the maidens legs. Rose briefly squinted over to the chat window to check what the viewers wanted to see. Some were already becoming impatient, she noticed. Typical. _'Fine, jackasses'_. Suppressing a sigh the young woman proceeded to wet her index and middle finger with a little bit of spittle. Rose discreetly checked the feeds to make sure the equipment was working and at least some of the cams had an unobstructed view. For a moment she ran her delicate fingers up and down Ashley's slit before she slowly inserted two of them into the Asari's vagina.

Nothing. No reaction whatsoever came from the maiden. No moaning, no flinching, no tensing up, not even the slightest shift in her position. Nothing. This time Rose wasn't able to fully hide her frown. Something was definitely not right with her dorm mate, her friend. Usually the young Asari was all in on the games the two of them played in front of the camera. But not today. Today she seemed to be somewhere else with her thoughts, distracted, maybe even distraught. Ashley was just lying on the bed motionless as if this whole thing was none of her affair.

Unwilling to drop the act just yet, the human girl took her fingers back out and began to caress the Asari's abdomen affectionately. Ignoring the protests coming from chat, Rose teased Ashley's soft skin with the tip of her tongue, slowly working herself upwards.

"Ash, what's wrong?" She whispered as she kissed and licked the side of the Asari's neck, gently massaging the maidens supple breasts with her own.

"Hm?" Ashley turned her head to her friend. She looked as if she'd just woken up and wondered where she was.

Realising that it would be pointless to go on, Rose gave up the pretense and turned to speak directly into one of the cameras.

"Sorry guys." She said bluntly. "Blue isn't feeling well right now, we'll have to take a break. We should be back soon, so don't go anywhere." Rose cut the feed, sat up and turned back to her friend. "Hon?" She asked softly.

The maiden was staring absently at some distant, imaginary point on the ceiling and didn't answer.

"Ashley!" Rose grabbed the other woman by the shoulders and pulled her up. Finally the Asari snapped out of her weird state of mind.

"Oh." Ashley shook her head and briefly rubbed her eyes. "Sorry Rosie." She let herself fall back onto the bed. "I haven't been the most attentive of lovers today, have I?" She said with a wry smile.

"Well, yes, sort of honey. I'm getting too old for you don't I?" Rose pretended to be upset. "Am I not beautiful enough for you any more? Or do I need to get a boob job? Oh if I could only switch bodies with an Asari, If I could only be beautiful forever!"

Ashley couldn't help but laugh out loud. These words were taken straight out of a cheap soap opera the two young women had made fun of earlier. She let her eyes wander over the human's naked body for a few moments. She couldn't tell whether Rose would have preferred to be Asari, of course, but the other lines couldn't have possibly been farther from the truth. Rose was only nineteen years old and Ashley found it hard to imagine that anybody would find her not beautiful enough. The girl was an unusual specimen of human. From what the maiden understood natural, pale, almost milky white skin was a rarity these days. As was the young woman's hair. Those wonderful silken red strands that, if the light was right, looked like liquid fire. A lot of people tended to underestimate the redhead but anyone reducing her to just a beautiful face and a killer body made a big mistake. For if one bothered to really look into her emerald eyes one could see that there was a keen intellect behind the pretty facade.

"My, my." Rose cooed flirtatiously as she noticed her dorm mate's gaze. "You do still seem to find me attractive after all."

Ashley giggled softly but then her thoughts suddenly went back to the talk she'd had with her sister. Her bare shoulders sagged a little.

"Ash, what is going on?" Rose asked when she noticed the change in posture. She was beginning to get worried. "What's bothering you? I mean, I've never seen you so distracted before."

"I'm sorry Rosie." The Asari maiden sighed. "It's just, I've had a pretty bad vid call before the show."

"I see." The redhead moved closer to Ashley and took her hand. "From whom?"

"Cyra, my eldest sister."

"She's the soldier, right?"

"Yeah."

"Is she all right? She didn't get shot or anything I hope?"

"No, physically she seemed fine." Ashley shrugged helplessly. "But...but something must have happened to her." Rose listened attentively as the Asari explained. "Everything was fine at first but then I made some silly remarks about her not getting laid and that she should get herself some action. I just couldn't help it. I had to tease her because I'm Ashley and I'm fucking stupid!" The human beauty squeezed her friend's hand a little when she saw that the Asari had to push back the tears. "She broke down crying, Rose. She - broke – down – crying!"

"I take it that's not normal for her?"

"I've never ever seen her lose her composure like that. She's not the squeamish type for crying out loud." Ashley said. "I mean, the last time I've seen her cry was back when we little girls."

"And she didn't say what was wrong?"

"No, she only said it was classified." Ashley's eyes narrowed a bit when she remembered a conversation with her father. "Dad said she'd had rough time when I talked to him a few weeks ago but he wouldn't go into details."

"You know." Rose said with a soft giggle. "I still haven't gotten used to the famous Commander Shepard being referred to as 'Dad'."

Ashley smiled faintly, running her hand over the other woman's thigh. "And yet you're screwing his daughter on a weekly basis."

"I do." Rose grinned impishly. "But that, you know, that's simply business."

"Ah I see. You just hate it, don't you?"

"Every minute of it!"

Ashley could feel her spirits rise as they shared a chuckle. Once again the Asari maiden was grateful that chance had placed the two of them right next to each other in the dorm. No matter what problems she got, talking to Rose always made her feel better. She felt a sudden urge to pull the redhead closer and kiss her but Ashley managed to restrain herself. For some reason she didn't think it would be appropriate at this time even though they were sitting right next to each other in the nude.

"Anyway." Rose said, quizzically looking at her dorm mate. "I don't suppose your big sister could simply be lovesick?"

"I doubt it." Ashley replied, absently chewing on her lower lip. "I mean, maybe that's part of the problem but something else must have happened. I'm not certain but I think it has something to do with that intelligence guy going rogue."

Rose's Eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What makes you think that?"

"Things Dad said when we talked about Cyra. For one he didn't speak very flatteringly about Alliance Intelligence." Ashley replied. "'A bunch of bastards' were his words I believe."

"I can confirm that." Rose grimaced.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"My dearest daddy is an analyst there and if he's representative..." Rose's voice died away as she sniffed derogatorily.

"Interesting." Ashley said as an idea began to form in her head. "How come you've never told me about this?"

"Because I haven't talked to him in almost two years." Rose didn't like the look, the Asari was giving her, at all.

"Couldn't you..." Ashley began but the human interrupted her immediately.

"No!"

"You don't even know what I was going to ask."

"Of course I do!" Rose exclaimed. "You would like me to ask my Father if he could find out what happened to your big sister."

"Well yes." The maiden admitted. "Please Rosie, I'd just like to know."

"No!"

"Please." Ashley's voice became so smooth and silken that the redhead couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh come on, drop those puppy eyes, will you?" Rose giggled. "Why don't you ask your Dad again? I'm sure he knows a lot more about it than my old man ever will."

"Probably, but he's not going to tell me. I know it. He's very strict in that regard." Ashley said. "Look Rosie, I get it, you hate your Dad..."

"It's more a strong dislike than it is hate." The human cut in. "Whatever the case, the less I got to deal with the man, the better. The jackass was never there for me when I grew up but when Mum divorced him, he insisted to spend time with me all of a sudden. Visiting rights and all that. Those days with him were amongst the most boring of my life, I can tell you that. So as soon as I turned eighteen I basically told him go fuck himself."

"Ouch. Well then forget about it, I guess." Ashley said with a sad face. Although Rose was fairly certain that at least part of it was fake she got taken in anyway. She hated to see the maiden unhappy.

"Oh fine." The Human sighed in defeat. "I'll ask him."

"Thanks Rosie!"

"Look Hon, don't get you hopes up all right?" The redhead said when Ashley kissed her on the cheek. "Even if he agrees to look into it, he may not find out anything at all. I mean, it's not like Dad is a big shot or anything."

"I take what I can get. I owe you one regardless." Ashley said, looking at the room's ancient mechanical clock. " But I think we should go back online now before people jerk off somewhere else."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Rose asked. "'Cause I can do the rest of the show solo..."

"I'm fine, Rose, don't worry." The Asari maiden interjected. "I was just a little distracted but our little talk helped."

"Okay then."

The virtual room filled up very quickly once Rose enabled the feed again. Unsurprisingly so, for Rose and Ashley were both very popular indeed. A few minutes later the Asari was lying on her stomach, the redhead's hands running over her bare back and slightly squeezing her buttocks. Ashley purred softly when she felt a hand slowly glide between her legs. She slightly pushed back against the delicate fingers when Rose reached her slit. The maiden heard something that sounded a little bit like a bell, indicating that a viewer had just tipped. She almost protested when the human suddenly took the hand away from her friend's nether regions.

"Time to show us your flexibility, honey." Rose whispered in her ear a moment later.

"Huh?" The Asari maiden glanced at the chat window then buried her head in a pillow. "Oh god, that position already?" Rose heard her mumble. "That'll be fun."

* * *

"Permission to speak, Sir?" Kenji asked as he followed his new platoon leader through the corridor, leading to the airlock.

"Of course." Cyra said without hesitation. "Always. I'm not very keen on protocol, Private, so if you got something to say, do it."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to find your buddy."

"What bud...Oh, you mean Corporal Leh."

"Yes Corporal Leh." Cyra smiled. She had a warm, friendly smile, the Private noticed. "I understand he's supposed to be on duty at the dig site."

"He is, Sir."

"Helmet on." The Asari Lieutenant ordered when they entered the airlock. Kenji did as he was told, making sure the combat suit was properly sealed before he gave a thumbs up. There was some faint hissing as the pressure was equalized with the outside atmosphere. A moment later the outer doors opened and the two Marines stepped onto the planet's rocky, rust coloured surface.

"Nice view." Cyra commented dryly as she let her gaze wander around the barren wasteland.

"Yes, Sir."

"Seriously, beautiful planet, very lush." The Asari snickered softly as she began to walk toward the scientist camp, about a dozen independent prefab containers arranged in a rough circle around the dig site.

"Yes, Sir."

"Look, Watanabe, relax okay?" Said Cyra. "We had a kind of an unfortunate start but right now we're not headed for the chopping block so take it easy. Usually I don't bite."

"I actually wouldn't mind a b..." The Private interrupted himself but not quickly enough. _'Me and my big fucking mouth!' _Kenji could have slapped himself, his face turning crimson behind the visor. He could feel his forehead growing damp as the Lieutenant stopped and turned to him, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Don't even think about it, Private." Cyra hissed, her intent to get the tech to ease up momentarily forgotten. "And be careful what you fucking wish for!"

"Yes, Sir." Kenji's head reddened even more. "Sorry Sir. I didn't mean...you know. It just kinda slipped out, Sir."

The Asari maiden didn't answer. Instead she just turned away and continued to walk towards the dig site. Kenji sharply expelled his breath as he followed her, relieved that the Lieutenant hadn't ripped his head off. _'Nicely done, really smooth you idiot!'_

* * *

"For the last time! I'm in a relationship, Johanson!" Michael Leh was rapidly becoming exasperated. Guarding the entrance to the ancient ruins, which was little more than a hole in the ground, the Corporal wondered why of all days he had to share a watch with that infernal woman now. Maybe some deity was punishing him for making fun of Kenny earlier, maybe karma was a real thing or maybe it was just a dumb coincidence. Whatever it was, he hadn't had a moment's peace since he'd taken his place for his fellow marine was in an awfully flirty mood.

"Yes I know, but she ain't here, is she?" Corporal Kelly Johanson responded in a low, alluring voice. By far the tallest trooper in the platoon she was also the most infamous one for her favourite hobby, aside from working out, seemed to be to try to seduce anyone crossing her path. When she was in the mood, which she appeared to be quite often, not even the other female marines were safe from her advances. Or at least that's what the stories, the soldiers liked to tell when she wasn't around, said. He'd never quite believed them. He'd always figured they were probably grossly exaggerated, just like the tales of sexual conquests some of the men used to brag about. Until today.

"Who will know?" The giantess said at this moment. "I certainly won't tell anyone and if you're not too loud..."

"That's not the point, dammit!" Michael almost shouted. The woman could be such a pest. "I love..." His voice trailed off when he heard her snicker. "Oh that's very cute Johanson." He growled when he finally realised she'd been yanking his chain the whole time. "Very funny."

Doing his best to ignore the guffaw coming from his left, he took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. The most infuriating thing about the Amazon was that one could barely ever tell whether she was being serious or not.

"Don't you worry pretty boy." Purred Kelly, the amusement clearly audible in her voice. "I ain't planning to ruin your life's biggest accomplishment for you."

"Screw you!"

"Well the way you've been banging on about your precious diplomat daughter, you must consider her to be." Kelly shrugged. "From what I hear, you barely seem able to talk about anything else these days."

Mike bit back an angry retort, glaring at the taller marine instead. He had to admit the colossal woman's jibe about his girlfriend was a bit too close to the truth for comfort. Ever since his platoon had been sent to this dump of a planet he'd been asking himself where his life was going. He'd joined the Corps to break up the routine of going to work, going to a pub and get drunk in the evening, the occasional quick and meaningless sex with whatever girl was willing. Now he found himself to be stuck in an even worse rut and his contract was running for another year. Yes, he had to admit he hadn't achieved a whole lot in his life so far. Except that he could call a high ranking alliance diplomat's daughter his girlfriend. Then again he was only twenty-three.

"I wonder." Kelly suddenly said, interrupting his musings. "Would you also have given me the line about being in a relationship if I was a head shorter and a little less buff?" Her tone of voice was so relaxed and casual that it took Mike a moment to realise what she was saying. "Or would you have asked me to meet you somewhere in a dark corner, hm?" She added as she turned her head to him, her piercing eyes bore right into his.

Mike swallowed down the profanity that sprang to his mind. "Yes, I would have told you I was in a relationship." He said instead, trying to sound confident. Johanson's gaze was somewhat unsettling.

"Really?" One of her eyebrows rose a little.

Michael hesitated. Would he really have said no to her in that case? As scary as the Amazon could be she certainly wasn't unattractive. He thought back to when he'd first met Angela. He'd stood watch not unlike today. Except he hadn't been guarding a pile of rubble but a diplomatic dinner on the citadel. The young, classy woman had come out for a stroll on the grass in front of the embassy, bored out of her skull by all the etiquette and protocol. They had begun to talk. It had gotten him a reprimand from his company commander but it had been more than worth it. A few days later they had met each other again by chance. He could still remember the moment when, after another long conversation, he'd asked her out. His heart had been beating as if it'd wanted to crack open his ribcage. The rest, as people used to say, was history.

He straightened up, making a mental note to call Angela as soon as he could. "Yes I would have!" This time he didn't have to try to sound confident.

"Interesting." Behind her visor Kelly's face shifted to a surprised smile. "You know you might be the first one, I've pulled my little act on, whom I can actually believe in that respect." She said with a nod.

"Excuse me?" The Corporal could barely believe what he'd heard. "You're not saying what I think you're saying...Are you?"

"Well, what do you think I'm saying?"

"All that flirting, all that seductive behaviour. Are you just testing people?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to call it a test." Replied Kelly. "I just like to know who I'm dealing with. One can learn quite a bit about people if you get them out of their comfort zone." Her voice took on a tone of amused irony. "And for most humans me flirting with them does exactly that. A little unorthodox my method, I admit, but valid nonetheless."

"Well, I'll be..." Mike shook his head in disbelief. "You're a devious one, you are. It would have worked better if you hadn't laughed though."

"Well, in your case I couldn't help myself." Kelly's smile widened considerably. "You were just so adorably flustered."

To his surprise Mike found himself laughing loudly. He suddenly realised he'd been trying to avoid the Amazon the whole time. Her presence had always somewhat disconcerting to him even if he hadn't been consciously aware that that was the case. Amazing how a few minutes worth of conversation could change one's perception of a person so completely.

"So tell me, Johanson." He said. "_If_ I had asked you to meet me in a dark corner, would you have been there?"

"Yes, I would have." The woman replied instantly, chuckling softly. "We probably wouldn't have had sex, but yes, I would have been there."

"Probably?"

"You never know." Said Kelly almost wistfully. Mike thought he'd caught a flicker of sadness on her face but it was gone so quickly that he wasn't sure.

They both went silent for a few minutes, watching scientists of several species enter and leave the ruins. Sometimes they carried little trinkets, sometimes they were discussing things, using words that didn't make much sense to the marines, but for the most part they just seemed to wander back and forth.

It was Michael that eventually broke the silence. "You know, Johanson, maybe it's just me but this could be the beginning of a great friendship." He said without even the slightest trace of sarcasm in his voice or on his face.

For a few moments the enormous woman looked at him with an expression he couldn't quite classify. "I'd like that." She said eventually. "Would you do me a favour though?"

"What is it?"

"Could you not tell people about my method, please? It'd screw up the results, so to speak."

"You haven't 'tested' everyone yet?"

"Not quite."

"My lips are sealed." Mike grinned. He had to admit he was maybe being a little cruel to his fellow marines but the potential for comedy, now that he knew what was going on, was just to good to pass up. Before he could think about it further, some movement right on the edge of his peripheral vision caught his attention.

"Oh, oh." He mumbled, turning his head to the right. "Contact two o'clock, fifty meters, closing in fast."

"Hm?"

"Our new platoon leader is coming."

"An Asari?" Said Kelly as she noticed the purple face behind the transparent part of the Lieutenant's helmet. "This could be interesting."

"Johanson, I wouldn't try to pull your act on her if I were you."

* * *

"...and cut." Said Rose in an overly dramatic fashion as she terminated the connection. Breathing fairly hard Ashley sat up, reached for a box of tissue paper and started to clean herself up. Things sometimes got a little messy during group shows.

"Are you all right, hon?" Rose inquired when she heard her dorm mate groan softly.

"Of course I'm all right." The Asari maiden said with a weak smile. "I'm just a little sore is all. Why do people always want me to get into these ludicrous poses?"

"Because it gives them a better view of the action, I imagine." The redhead said.

"I get that but why always me?" Ashley wondered as she stood up and walked around the small room for a bit, grimacing as she tried to loosen the muscles in her neck and shoulders.

"You got cramps again?" Rose asked superfluously.

"Yeah, just like after the last twenty shows we did together."

"Well then." Rose grinned. "Let me give you a massage just like after the last twenty shows we did together."

"Seriously though." Ashley closed her eyes after she'd sat down on the bed, purring as her dorm mate started to knead her tense flesh. The redhead was getting really good at it. "Why do the viewers always want me to pull a bloody contortion act? Why never you?"

"Honestly, Ash, I've got no clue." Rose dribbled a little bit of oil on her hand and began to rub it in the maiden's neck. "Maybe our regulars figure that you're more flexible than I am. Or maybe they don't like Asaris and want to see you suffer."

"Yeah that could be it." Ashley snorted in amusement then fell silent for a few minutes, enjoying the Human's skilful massage. "Ah well, never mind." She eventually said. "Other than that it was a pretty good show, wasn't it?"

"Yes it was." Rose leaned forward, whispering in Ashley's ear once more. "You're becoming very good with your tongue, honey."

"Why, thankeee...hey!" Ashley's chuckle turned into a yelp when the human suddenly stopped the massage, her hands shooting downward and pinching the maiden's nipples. "Hey, leave my tits alone!"

The Asari tried to get rid of the offending hands. The resulting struggle quickly turned into something in between a wrestling match and a pillow fight. At the end of it the two young females lay on the bed for a while, panting and giggling, each simply enjoying the other's company.

"You know." Rose asked as she tenderly caressed the maiden's belly. "It's still early, wanna go out and get a drink?"

"Nah." Ashley rolled to the side and stood up, beginning to gather her clothes from the floor. "I have to study."

"Seriously, Ash?" Bending down to put on her undies, the Asari maiden didn't see that the redhead's face fell slightly. "You've aced every test they threw at you without breaking a sweat. Don't you think you can ease up a little?"

"I'd rather not take any chances." Ashley sighed. "Come on, Rosie, you know I'm not really into clubbing."

"We don't have to go clubbing, we could also catch a vid or something."

"Well, anything good in the holo-dromes at the moment?" The asari maiden wanted to know.

"Hmm." After a few moments of thinking, Rose had to admit that the quality of the vids, that were currently shown, wasn't particularly high.

"Look Rosie." Ashley said, when her human friend didn't come up with any more ideas for going out right away. "Some other time, all right?"

"Oh fine." The redhead quickly poked out her tongue. "I believe I got a call to make anyway."

Already on the way to the door, Ashley turned around and walked back to the human to give her another kiss on the cheek. "Thanks again Rosie, as I said, I owe you one."

"Ashley?" Rose said timidly, as the Asari was about to leave. "About that favour..."

"Already calling it in?" Ashley said in amusement. "You're a fast one, aren't you?" She stopped and her eyes widened slightly. Why was Rose so nervous all of a sudden?

"I...I've meant to ask you for some time." The redhead said looking down on her hands as she folded them in her lap. "You know all the time we've had...fun together in front of a camera I've wondered...I've wondered..."

"I see." Ashley said slowly, sitting down next to the human woman as she realized what she was asking for. "You've wondered what a mind meld would be like, haven't you?"

Rose raised her chin and locked eyes with the maiden for a moment. She nodded. An awkward silence followed.

"Look Rose." Said Ashley after a while, thoughtfully chewing on her lip. "I'll need to think about it okay? I mean sex is one thing but a melding...that's the real deal for us Asaris."

"Yes, of course." The redhead said quickly. "I didn't mean to say that I want it now. I mean, I wouldn't mind...I mean...Sheesh! You know what I mean, right?"

"Relax." The Asari maiden gave her fellow student a kind smile. "As I said, I'll think about it. It certainly won't be in a show though. I don't want to pop my cherry with a hundred-thousand people watching."

"What?" Rose stared at the maiden speechlessly. "You mean, you've never...?"

"Nope, so far I've only had regular sex." Ashley slowly shook her head. "You see, until I came here I didn't get a lot of action. I've simply never felt comfortable enough to go all in."

"Oh, Jesus." The young Human said. "Forget it then. I'm sure you don't want your first meld to be with someone...someone like me."

"What are you talking about Rosie?" The words came out before Ashley had a chance think about them. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather do it with."

All of a sudden, as if someone had just flipped a switch, the tension between them, that had always been there in some way, became almost unbearable. For an endless moment Human and Asari stared at one another, their faces slowly drew closer as if there was some mystical force pushing them. It was just before their lips met that Ashley pulled back, having to muster all her willpower to do so.

"I better go now." The maiden said hoarsely.

Rose opened her mouth as if she wanted to protest but seemed to be unable to say anything. Her feelings a turmoil unlike anything she'd experienced in her life so far, all Ashley could think of at this very moment was to escape. With a mumbled "See you later." The Asari maiden hastily retreated from the bed and exited the room. Safely back in the confines of her own four walls, she leaned against a wall, running her hand over her head crest as she wondered what on earth had just happened. Why did her entire body seem to be in upheaval? Her heart beating furiously? Her breathing heavy? Her stomach tickling as if it was full of butterflies? Rose and her obviously had had sex before. A lot. They had even kissed before. However that had all been in front of a camera. For show.

It had only been for show.

Until now.

* * *

"Thanks for the tour, doctor Gordon." Cyra said with a nod towards the lead scientist.

"My pleasure, miss Shepard." The tall Human with the goatee and the spectacles replied. "Too bad I couldn't show you more. We're about to crack open a few additional rooms though. So if you're still interested I'd be happy to give you another tour in a few weeks."

"I bet you would be." Kenji muttered under his breath, drawing curious glances from both Leh and Johanson.

"We'll see." The Asari Lieutenant said. She hadn't heard the Private mumble. "Anyway, doc, would you mind if I pulled off one of the guards for about half an hour?"

"Not at all." The scientist shook his head. "It's not like we've encountered anything even remotely dangerous so far. As a matter of fact this protection detail wasn't our idea in the first place. Pull your man off, pull 'em both off if you want. We'll be just fine."

"Okay, thanks."

With a smile, doctor Gordon turned around and walked away. The maiden's eyes followed him for a few moments as he headed towards his private container.

"Nobody knows." Mike suddenly said to her right.

"Excuse me, Corporal?"

"The crowbar." He grinned widely. "I noticed you looking, Sir."

"Yeah, I was wondering." Cyra said. "Nobody knows why he's carrying that thing around with him?"

"Nope. I asked some of the other scientists." Said Mike. "One of them said it was probably some sort of good luck charm but ultimately no one seems to have a clue as to what it's all about."

"I see."

"They're a weird bunch sometimes." Mike added. "One time I saw one of the other Humans sit on his container, environment suit and all, playing guitar. It didn't sound like much. Such a thin atmosphere doesn't carry sound too well, but hey."

"Interesting." Said Cyra and turned to her marines. "But that's not why I'm here." She checked the name tag on the tallest of the three. "Corporal Johanson you stay here."

"Yes Sir."

"The two of you, come with me."

Leh and Watanabe fell in line, but before she'd taken half a dozen steps away from the dig site, there was a thud behind her. When she turned around she saw that the entrance to the ruins had closed. She didn't see the doctor any more so she engaged her suit's radio and called him on the scientist team's frequency.

"Doctor Gordon?"

"Yes?"

"Doc the entrance to the ruins has just closed." Cyra said. "Was that supposed to happen?"

* * *

Well, talking about comfort zones...This one got me out of mine at times.

I've never been good at writing romance. Hope the scene with Rose and Ashley didn't come out too awkward.

Any comments would be appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello Everybody

Here's the next chapter of this little tale. Bet you'd never have guessed, huh? ;)

So without further ado, here it goes.

* * *

"Fascinating." Doctor Gordon said for at least the fifth time in a row as he scanned door and frame of the entrance. He turned to the other scientists, about a dozen of which had gathered up nearby. "Lien would you go and get the scanner please?" He said to a very young human female, probably his assistant. "The omni-tool doesn't give me good enough readings."

"Of course, Doctor."

The girl hurriedly jogged towards the camp's largest container, adding to the weird, nervous tension that was around. The scientists were buzzing all around the place, hacking away on their own omni-tools, scanning things and discussing excitedly amongst one another. Cyra felt somehwhat out of place here and standing around, feeling useless, she was beginning to feel the lack of sleep again.

"Excuse me, doc." She said after the lead scientist had aborted his attempt to scan the door. "Mind telling us what's so fascinating?"

"Ah, yes of course. Forgive me I was getting carried away a little bit." Doctor Gordon said. So far the Asari maiden only knew that the doors were not supposed to close, certainly not on their own.

"We're reading very faint energy signatures all around the place now, indicating there has to be some kind of working technology in there." The middle aged, normally level headed human, was barely able to stand still he was so giddy. "So far the ruins seemed to be as lifeless as the rest of the planet but now all of a sudden everything lit up it seems. It's really quite extraordinary."

"Why is that so special?" Private Watanabe wanted to know, reminding Cyra that the marines were hanging around idly and were probably bored. "Working technology has been found in Prothean ruins before, right?"

"These aren't Prothean ruins, young man." The doctor said. "They're older, much older."

"Oh yeah?" Kenji said cheekily. "How old?"

"Neighbourhood of a few million years." Gordon said with a thin smile. Kelly let go an impressed whistle but said nothing. "So yes, finding any kind of functioning advanced technology in ruins that old is very, _very_ special. I certainly didn't expect to find anything beyond the most basic mechanical contraptions still working."

Kenji wanted to say something more but the Asari Lieutenant gestured him to be quiet. "So any idea how we can open the door? Beyond blowing it up, that is." She inquired.

"Well, I'd rather not blow it, miss Shepard." The scientist said. "We don't know what else may be damaged if we do that or what effect it's going to have on the energy grid."

"I understand that." Said Cyra. "But there are some of your people trapped in there, right?"

"Yes, but there really is no hurry." Gordon said. "While I'm certain that it's not very pleasant being stuck inside, they shouldn't be in immediate danger."

"As far as we know, doc." The maiden pointed out. "However, these ruins have already surprised us once today, haven't they?"

"True." Gordon admitted. His eyes darted back and forth between the closed door and the Asari as he considered his options. "We haven't found anything pointing to an automatic defensive system or anything else that could pose a threat in there so far though, so I'd like to give the scanner a bash and see what we can find out about the opening mechanism."

"Okay, doc." Cyra nodded. The safety of the scientists was her responsibility now, but she preferred not to interfere. Not yet anyway. "At the end of the day, they're your people."

"Just use the bloody crowbar." Someone behind her muttered under his breath. If Gordon had heard it he chose not to react hence the Asari Lieutenant decided to let it slide and only cast a glare at the marines.

"The scanner, doctor Gordon." The young assistant walked over hurriedly, carrying a tripod and a metal ball, roughly the size of a human head, with multiple sensor apertures and attachments. Cyra stepped back to get out of the way and let the Scientists do their job. Within moments every researcher in sight was swarming around the scanning device, almost like insects around a light source, the maiden noticed with amusement. She had to restrain herself from yawning openly as she listened to the scientists discussing about how to proceed best. By the time the scanner was finally activated, after a good ten minutes of arguing, Cyra wanted nothing more than to get out of there and take a nap. Alas she couldn't. Not yet. Until she knew if the researchers inside were okay, she could hardly leave and furthermore, she had to admit, she was also a little curious.

Minutes seemed to pass at a snail's pace as the scanning and the discussions continued. Several times the poor, young assistant had to run off and fetch some additional hardware that didn't seem to do any good either, at least as far as Cyra could tell.

"How did they get it open in the first place?" Corporal Leh wondered after a while.

"It was already open when they got here." The Asari Lieutenant said, wishing she could rub the weariness out of her eyes. "The doc told me when he gave me the tour." She added when she saw the marines' questioning looks. "Haven't you guys ever asked about the dig?"

"Can't say I have, Sir." Mike shrugged. "I peeked inside a few times but I've never understood the appeal of old stuff to be honest."

"I have." Said Kelly. "I actually had a pretty lengthy talk with one of the researchers once."

"I'll just bet." Kenji snickered softly.

Kelly lowered her head and batted her eyelashes at the Private. "Look sugar." She said with a predatory grin. "If you feel neglected and want a tête-à-tête, just say the word."

"Nah, I'm good, thank you." Kenji said hurriedly and took a step back. Mike bit his upper lip and quickly looked the other way. Even in his armour Cyra could see the Corporal's shoulders tremble as she wondered what this was all about.

"Anyway, I got a PhD in history, Sir." The Amazon explained, misinterpreting the Asari's quizzical expression. "So, I myself do understand the 'appeal of old stuff'."

"What!?" The men exclaimed at the same time.

"What, what?" Kelly's smile had something derisive about it as she eyed her fellow troopers. "Surprised I'm not just all brawn, boys?"

"No, of course not." Both of them said, perfectly simultaneously. If she hadn't know better, Cyra would have thought that this was a rehearsed scene. It was funny one way or another.

"What did the two of you do before you enlisted?" The Asari maiden inquired. She figured since they were stuck here for the time being, she might as well try to learn something about these marines. The sentence hung in the air for a moment as Mike and Kenji traded a glance. The officers, they'd had before in their military career, hadn't really cared for the civilian background of their subordinates.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Cyra said. "If it's too personal or anything."

"No, no." Mike replied. "There's just not a whole lot to tell. I was a low level maintenance tech in a skycar factory. Really nothing remarkable. I mean tech is somewhat generous a word for what I had to do there."

"I see." The Asari Lieutenant said tilting her head to the side. "What about you, Private?"

"I enlisted pretty much directly out of school." Kenji said. "I did have a job...for two months."

"Only two months?" Kelly interjected with a frown.

"Yeah, errr... I kinda got fired." The Private blushed slightly.

"Oh." The huge woman cocked her eyebrow questioningly. "Let me guess. Verbal incontinence?"

"What?"

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut when you should have?"

"Yeah." Kenji mumbled. The young man was clearly quite embarrassed. "That was pretty much the problem."

"What did you do, man?" Mike grinned. "Did you call your boss an asshole or something?"

"I'd rather not talk about it okay?" The Private replied, looking at his feet.

"Come on dude." Mike kept on probing. "It can't be..."

"Leave him be, Corporal." Cyra gently cut in. She threw another look at the scientist team to check if they'd gotten anywhere with the door. Gordon's young assistant was kneeling down in front of the gate and, by the looks of it, tried to open some kind of maintenance flap with a knife. Other than that the Asari couldn't see any sign of progress.

"What about you, Lieutenant?" Kelly asked.

"Hm?"

"What did you do before this?" The Amazon wanted to know. "If you don't mind me asking, sir."

"No, It's fine." Cyra briefly reflected on what to say. There was no harm in talking about her past with the marines, was there? "This and that." She started answering the question. "I studied at the local university for a while, didn't come anywhere close to a PhD though, I worked as a fitness instructor and in the years before I joined the corps I played hoverball semi-professionally. That's about it."

"Hoverball?" Mike's eyebrows shot up. "You played in a local league, sir?"

"Yeah." Cyra confirmed. "And I actually got an offer from an interstellar pro team shortly before I went to the recruiting office."

"And you didn't take it?" Kenji seemed to be totally flabbergasted.

"Obviously I didn't." The maiden said dryly.

"For heaven's sake, why not...sir?" Kenji exclaimed, his big mouth getting the better of him once more.

"I've always played hoverball because it was fun, Private." Cyra said pointedly, frowning at the young human. "I've never really considered it a career path. I mean the more ambitious you get, the more you have to practice and train and I just wasn't willing to go any further at some point. I felt the game would lose it's appeal to me if I had to put in more and more effort." There had been another reason for turning down that offer, but that was none of the marines' business.

"But it could have made you rich and famous."

"I've been famous from the moment I was born, Private." The Asari maiden shrugged. "Trust me, I've had my fill. I mean, when I was growing up, every time I did something out of the ordinary I would hear about it in the local news."

"Really, sir?" Mike chimed in. "It was that bad?"

"Well not 'bad' exactly. Normally it was just a bit annoying." Said Cyra. "There was that one time though. I slipped and fell on my daily run so I came back home with a few scrapes and bruises. Some tabloid hack saw it, took a picture and then made up a story about how I must have had a rough night with some mysterious lover."

"Seriously?" The three human marines chuckled at the ludicrous notion.

"Yep and you guys don't want to know about the subtext in that article." The maiden's lips pressed together in a tight smile. "But my father was furious, I can tell you that."

"What did you do about it?"

"Me? Nothing." Cyra shrugged again. "I told everyone asking that it was all bullshit of course, but other than that I didn't to anything. I'm not quite certain what dad did but the news site had to issue a corrective statement and an apology. I am pretty sure the guy in question also doesn't work as a reporter any more."

"Serves the bastard right." Mike puffed derogatorily.

"Yeah. That was an extreme exception though." The asari maiden pointed out. "Anyway if any of you people want to be famous, I'll gladly give you my spot in the limelight."

"I'll hold you to that, Lieutenant." Kenji grinned boyishly.

"Please do."

Incited by their new platoon leader's little tale, and boredom, the marines began to talk more openly about small episodes of their lives. They told stories about their childhood, school, university and boot camp. About stupid teachers and bosses, pets and friends, about small mishaps and big misunderstandings. Most of the tales were quite funny, some were a bit embarrassing, some even a little sad. After a while Cyra realised that she was enjoying herself. Talking, hearing and laughing about trivial, everyday stuff was just so very refreshing. She felt better and more relaxed than she had in months.

"Doctor Gordon?" Cyra almost let out an irritated growl when the assistant's shout interrupted Mike's story about his early attempts at hoverboarding. "I think I got something here."

"What is it, Lien?" The head researcher knelt down next to the young woman and listened to her explanation for about a minute. The Asari Lieutenant told her marines ready their weapons in the unlikely event that there was something dangerous waiting on the other side of the doors. The two researchers typed something on their omni-tools while the others, on a terse command from Gordon, took a few steps away from the door. Cyra and her marines, on the other hand, moved closer, positioning themselves between the door an the group of civilians.

The lead researcher glanced over as the Asari maiden knelt down next to him. "I'm sure this isn't necessary, miss Shepard." He said when he noticed that she was pulling out her pistol.

"Probably not." Cyra agreed. "But it's not going to hurt is it?"

"I suppose not." He sighed and turned back to his assistant.

After receiving an encouraging nod from her boss, Lien pointed her omni-tool at the open panel. At first nothing seemed to happen except from some barely audible hissing. Then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, the door slid upwards, making scarcely a sound at all. Everyone around held their breath for a moment but nothing extraordinary happened. No alien monster jumped out and no automated defensive system began to wreak havoc. However the missing scientists were nowhere to be seen either.

"Good thinking, Lien." The young woman blushed with joy as Gordon tapped her shoulders approvingly. "Nicely done, young lady." He turned to Cyra. "I suppose you want to go in with me, miss Shepard?"

The Asari maiden cocked her head to one side. "If you wouldn't mind, doc." She said pointedly, frowning at the disparaging undertone that had accompanied the researchers last sentence. "After all us common grunts got a job to do here too."

"Yes, of course." Gordon took a deep breath and gave the Asari an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, it took us way too long to get the gate open and I got to admit, I'm a little on edge."

"No problem, doctor. We'll try not to get in your way. " She turned to her marines. "Any volunteers for going in there with me? Or for staying outside?"

"I'd rather stay outside, sir." Said Kelly instantly. "I'm afraid the ceiling in there is on the low side for me."

Cyra smirked. She'd noticed on her tour that the builders of this place were probably a bit shorter than the average Human or Asari. It had felt as if her helmet was going to scrape along the ceiling at any moment and Corporal Johanson was of course quite a bit taller than her.

Mike raised his right hand. "I'll go in with you, Lieutenant."

"Okay then, Johanson, Watanabe you stay here." She turned back to Gordon. "Ready when you are, doctor."

They had to duck to get through the door and enter the ruins. The small, square room on the other side of the gate was completely empty, just as it had been during the tour. Doctor Gordon immediately knelt down in front of the next obstacle in their way. Another closed door.

"This isn't going to take another two hours, is it doc?" Cyra inquired.

"I'd hope not." He said as he went to work. Fortunately it didn't take long to get a reaction from the alien technology this time. However the first thing that happened was the door behind them slamming shut again.

"Uh, doc, what...?" The maiden began but we she heard the sound of air moving she realised what had to be happening. "Never mind, we're in an airlock, right?"

"Yes." Gordon replied, staring at his omni-tool. "So with any luck this door should open once the pressure is equalized." He'd barely finished speaking when the inner door indeed opened. "Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable." He breathed as he exited the airlock, the marines following. "Millions of year old and there's enough functioning technology around to make an airlock work."

Cyra looked around the next chamber a little more closely than she had on the tour. Like the airlock it was quadratic in shape but it was somewhat larger. Two rows of what looked like oddly shaped computer consoles formed a corridor roughly in the middle of which were several metal arches one had to pass to get to the next gate. Light sources of an unknown kind bathed the room in an eerie blue glow. The maiden frowned when she got a red light on Johanson's and Watanabe's com signal as she moved further inside.

"Doc, any idea what sort of facility this was?" She asked, wondering why the subject hadn't come up during the tour.

"We don't know enough about the people who built place for a qualified answer, miss Shepard." The doctor said as he started the procedure of opening a gate once more. "Actually we don't know _anything_ about them, so all I can do is speculate."

"Please do doc."

"Well, from what we've seen of the structure so far my best guess is that this was some sort of high security compound." The doctor made a sweeping gesture. "This room here was probably a security checkpoint. _If _their minds worked similarly to ours that is."

Before he could explain any further, Cyra tapped his shoulder and reached for her gun.

"What is it?" The researcher asked and interrupted his effort to open the door.

"I heard something." The maiden whispered.

"What did you hear?" Gordon wondered aloud.

"Shhh!"

"Doctor Gordon?" A muted voice asked from the other side of the door. "Is that you?"

"Sela?" The lead scientist said loudly as the marines behind him relaxed. "Is everything okay in there?"

"Well we're stuck in here." Came the obvious answer. "But other than that we're fine."

"Just hang on a moment. I should have this open in no time."

To his displeasure it took Gordon considerably longer than a moment to succeed and the woman on the other side seemed to get more and more nervous the more time passed. When the doctor finally got the door to slide open, Sela turned out to be a restlessly pacing around Turian female.

"Thank the heavens." She breathed a sigh of relief before she, to everybody's surprise, practically lunged through the doorway. "I need to get out of here!"

The Turian barely waited for doctor Gordon to explain how to activate the airlock before she strode towards the exit. "Sela has always been a little jumpy in here. " The lead scientist explained when he saw the marines smirking. "No idea why. Perhaps she just doesn't like enclosed spaces."

While the other two researchers in the large circular hall, a female Quarian and a male Human, also seemed to be relieved to see their boss, they were in no hurry to get out. "Doctor, take a look at this." The Quarian instead called Gordon over to the console, they were fawning over. Again Cyra felt somewhat useless as she watched and listened to the scientists excitedly talk about a working bit of hardware they'd found.

"Doc." Said the Asari after a while. "Is that everyone who was in here when the doors closed or are there more people supposed to be around?"

"Oh, right." Gordon said, his face flushing in embarrassment as he realised he'd gotten carried away by his enthusiasm. "Where is the rest of our merry band?" He asked his colleagues.

"They started exploring when things went nuts." The Quarian explained. "We told them to sit tight, but Miller said if we had to be stuck in here we may as well try to do something useful."

"Miller, of course." Gordon groaned. "Analysing the technology in here was obviously not important enough for the high and mighty." He shook his head in disgust. "Speaking of things going nuts...What exactly did you do anyway?"

"Nothing we didn't do a hundred times before, doctor." The Quarian said. "The power just suddenly came online. Poof! Without warning."

"I see and where did the others go?"

"Through there." The Quarian pointed at an open doorway on the other side of the hall. "For some reason it opened when all the other doors closed."

"How long have they been gone?

"Over an hour now."

"I see." He turned to face the Asari maiden. "I guess we better go and find them, miss Shepard."

"You can stay here if you want, doc." Cyra replied. "Just give me instructions on how to open these doors and we should be able to go ahead on our own."

"No, no, I'd prefer to come along." Gordon said. "I admit, my understanding of this technology is rather limited but it could still prove useful. Besides those are my people wandering around in here."

"Okay then." The maiden had to hide a smirk. It wasn't difficult to see that the main reason the scientist wanted to tag along was simple curiosity. The desire to explore was written all over the man's face.

"Anyway." Said Gordon turning to his colleagues. "You two take a break and get out of here."

"But..."

"No buts. This structure isn't going anywhere, so you two get some rest now." The head researcher said firmly, shoving his fellow scientists towards the exit. "This console will still be here tomorrow and with any luck will still be functioning so off you go."

"Well then, doctor." Cyra said after the junior researchers had left. "Shall we?"

"After you, milady." He said with an exaggerated bow.

"You're a bit of an old fashioned chap, aren't ya, doc?" Mike said. Ever since they'd entered the ruins the Corporal had been silent and Cyra'd almost forgotten he was there.

"What can I say?" Gordon grinned. "I'm an archaeologist." Both marines chuckled softly as they entered a long corridor. After passing what seemed to be another security checkpoint, the hallway led to a spiral staircase, the steps of which were much wider than any know species would have built them. Aloud the maiden wondered what the builders of this place could have looked like, but all she got for an answer were clueless shrugs.

"Well, one thing we know about them." Said Mike sarcastically after they'd been going down the staircase for a while. "They didn't like elevators much."

"So it would seem." The doctor grimaced. "By now we've probably descended close to two hundred meters and I doesn't look like we're there just yet."

The two Humans and the Asari had to endure a few more minutes of tediously going round and round. But when they finally reached the end of the stairs the view that opened up before them was more than enough a compensation.

"Wow." Cyra felt her jaw drop as she stepped into a huge, obviously artificial cave. Without thinking she increased the sensitivity of her suit's low light sensors to get a better look for the headlights on Gordon's suit were not nearly strong enough to illuminate such a large space. In front of her a narrow bridge led to a metal sphere, maybe around twenty meters in diameter, mounted on three thick legs.

"Wow indeed." The scientist breathed.

"Seriously." Mike spoke up behind them. He wasn't nearly as impressed as the others. "Who'd build something this way? And to what purpose? I mean, it just seems to be awfully impractical."

"Good question, mister...I'm sorry what was your name again?"

"It's Leh, doc." Mike tapped on his name tag with a sly smirk.

"Oh, of course umm..." Said Gordon awkwardly. "Anyway it would seem that security had absolute priority here."

"If you're right and this really was a high security facility." Cyra said, still letting her gaze wander.

"_If_ I am right yes." The scientist nodded toward the sphere. "And if I'm right whatever was so important most likely used to be in there."

"Let's go and take a look then." The Asari maiden said. "Since we didn't come across your colleagues so far, they should be in there as well." She gave the bridge a wary look. "Just don't trip."

"I'll try not to." Gordon swallowed hard. The bridge was less than half a meter wide, had no railings or anything else that could have prevented a fall and the solid rock surface was at least thirty meters below. It wasn't that the scientist was particularly afraid of heights but he didn't fancy dying just yet either. Thus his heart beat considerably faster than normal as he slowly followed the Asari maiden across.

"Shit." He heard her hiss when he stepped onto the small platform in front of the sphere. As he looked up he saw a motionless figure, one of the salarian scientists, lying face down in the entrance. Although he was on relatively safe ground again, Gordon's heart rate increased even further as Cyra gestured Mike to take up position on one side of the doorway while crouching down on the other.

Pistol in one hand, the other crackling with dark energy, the Asari maiden peeked inside for a moment. "Looks like they're all down." She whispered. "Doc, get away from the door. Leh cover me."

Cyra slowly and carefully moved closer to the Salarian. The biotic field dissipated as she scanned him with her omni-tool. "He's alive." She whispered, then slowly put her gun away and dragged the unconscious scientist outside. "You got any medical expertise, doc?" The maiden asked after she'd settled the Salarian against the metal wall.

"Not beyond basic knowledge, no."

Cyra swore inwardly. Why hadn't she thought of bringing a medic along? Someone who could make more sense out of the omni-tool readings. First aid had never been her strong point. 'Just slap medi-gel on everything' had her mindset been during basic and advanced training so she hadn't paid too much attention during the respective classes. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. One of these days she'd have to take a course to brush up on her medical skills, but now wasn't the time to rack her brain about it.

The Asari maiden cautiously looked around as she entered the sphere the second time. Other than the two bodies lying on the floor and a single computer terminal the room was completely empty. She rapidly cycled through her suit's vision modes but nothing more showed up. Neither on infra-red nor on ultra-violet frequencies. She even had her suit emit a series of ultrasound pulses to make sure there wasn't anything cloaked in there with her.

She holstered her pistol. Whatever had knocked the scientists out, was either no longer around or was something her sidearm was probably useless against. She cautiously knelt down next to a male human. He was lying on his back and she could see that he was breathing. However one look in his face told her that unconsciousness hadn't come easily to the man. His features were contorted as if he'd been in agony before his mind had shut down do spare him any further pain. She could also see that there was blood coming out of both of his ears. As far as could tell from the omni tool data, he'd suffered severe acoustical trauma but was otherwise okay.

"What's wrong with him?" Cyra looked up and saw Gordon peeking into the room.

"Looks like he got knocked out by a very loud noise." She replied. "His eardrums are ruptured. Other than that he seems fine."

She slid her hand under the man's shoulders and wanted to drag him outside when suddenly something happened. She couldn't quite tell what it was at first but her skin began to tickle. It felt as if ants were running all over her body. She let go of the researcher and slowly rose. The tickling briefly stopped then resumed, starting at her feet, moving upwards to the top of her head and then back down again.

"Lieutenant, what is it?" Mike asked.

"I think, I'm being scanned." Cyra breathed, without turning her head or moving otherwise. She could feel her mouth running dry as the cycle repeated itself several times. "Better get..." The Asari maiden was interrupted by a sudden very loud and very unpleasant screech. The helmet protected her from the worst but what came through was still enough to make her teeth clatter. She only had to endure the acoustic onslaught for a few seconds however. Then the volume was reduced, the screeching changed to rapidly shifting synthetic sounds and finally died down completely.

"What the fuck what that!?" Mike rasped from the doorway.

"No clue." Cyra stood still, barely daring to move. "It was probably the same thing that happened to them." She pointed at scientist lying in front of her.

"Yeah but what was it?"

"How the hell should I know?" The Asari Lieutenant snapped, steeling herself when the noises came back. It seemed to be just random noises at first but the longer she listened the more she thought she could make out patterns. Just before they ceased again she thought she could even recognize a few words within.

"It almost seems like someone or something is trying to communicate." The maiden flinched when doctor Gordon spoke up right next to her.

"Doc, what are you doing in here?" She hissed. "It's not safe."

"Neither of you is in any danger, miss Shepard." A cool voice, neither male nor female suddenly said to the Asari's amazement. It sounded a little distorted at first but cleaned up quickly. "I assure you, I mean you no harm. I did not intend to cause you or the others any pain. Some of my systems are malfunctioning and I wasn't fully in control of my audio functions for a time I am afraid."

Only the chin strap of her helmet prevented Cyra's jaw from dropping further and she was fairly certain that Gordon was just as stunned.

"I wasn't given any instructions on what to do in case aliens visited." The voice continued. "I suppose I should start with saying hello."

"Hello." The humans - Mike had joined them in the meantime - and the Asari finally found their voices again. They looked at one another each hoping the others would think of something appropriate to say.

"Umm...Would you mind telling us who or what you are?" Cyra felt somewhat stupid for asking. "Are you an AI?"

"I'm sorry, miss Shepard, I'm not familiar with the term AI." The voice said. "My understanding of your language is still limited, I fear."

"Are you and artificial intelligence?"

"Yes, I suppose you could call me that. My creators used the term Experimental Thinking Machine to describe me. Roughly translated." A flickering holographic image was projected in front of the small group. The picture, although somewhat degraded, showed a creature that looked a bit like an upright walking bee. It stood on two legs that were so spindly that Cyra wondered how it could keep itself upright. It also had two pairs of arms, ending in almost human looking hands and a quartet of semi-transparent wings. The main features of its face were a very small mouth, large iridescent eyes and two antennae coming out of its forehead. The being had a weird air of sophistication and elegance about it. "Does my creator race still exist?"

"It seems unlikely." Gordon said, eyeing the holo-projection with awe. "That certainly doesn't look like any species I've ever seen." He paused for a moment. "You've been inactive until today, is that correct?"

"Yes, Doctor Gordon."

"For how long?"

"I'm afraid I can't reliably answer that question. I shut down all but the most basic functions shortly after my creators evacuated this facility. As to how long that was ago, I truly cannot say. All my chronometers tell me something different and I have no way of knowing which one of them, if any, is correct."

"I see." Fully recovered from the first shock, the scientist was now grinning like a madman, already making a mental list of questions he had to ask. What a discovery this was! "What was the reason for the evacuation if I may ask?"

"I wasn't given an explanation, doctor." The AI said. "From what I could piece together, listening to conversations throughout the facility, a great disaster must have happened. An attack by an unknown and very powerful foe."

The three conscious people in the room exchanged telling looks. Gordon was about to ask another question when the human, lying at their feet, twitched a few times. Cyra knelt down immediately, feeling bad that she'd completely forgotten about the knocked out scientists. She dragged the human over to the closest wall and told Mike to check the other who was still in the room, a female Batarian by the looks of it.

Out of the corner of her eyes the young Asari could see Gordon's head turning back and forth between the computer terminal and his scientists. He clearly wanted to know more about the AI and it's creators but he was also concerned about his people. Realising that he couldn't really do much for them, his curiosity eventually got the better of him and he began to question the intelligent machine again.

"Doctor?" She asked after the two marines had settled all three researchers against the wall next to each other, once more making certain that they weren't in any immediate danger. "Could we have a word please?"

"Certainly, we can..."

"Outside if you wouldn't mind." Cyra nodded towards the bridge.

"What? Outside?" Gordon exclaimed, his eyes widening. "Why?"

"Because we'll need to decide how to proceed." The maiden said sharply. "And I'd prefer not discuss it here because we also need to get these people some proper medical attention sooner rather than later." That was of course merely an excuse to pull the doctor away from the thinking machine. She knew full well what she had to do.

"Have I done something wrong?" The AI asked as Gordon tried to scratch his chest through his environment suit, reluctantly looking around the room.

"No, you haven't, don't worry." Said Cyra. The young Asari impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Come on, doc. You can ask your questions later, our artificial friend isn't going anywhere, right?"

"I cannot leave this facility." The AI confirmed. "My creators made sure of that."

"Let's go doc."

"Oh fine." Gordon sighed as the maiden gave him a gentle nudge towards the door.

"Will you come back, miss Shepard?" The AI asked to everyone's surprise.

"The doctor certainly will." Replied Cyra. "Me? I don't know, maybe."

"I would be glad if you visited again." Although it's tone of voice wasn't any different than before the Asari had this weird impression that the AI sounded like a child who was afraid to be left alone.

"We'll see." She said slowly, turning to Mike. "Corporal you stay here for the moment. I'll send some medics down. Let them assess the damage and then report back to me. I'll need to know if these people will be able to cross that bridge safely."

"Aye aye, Sir."

"See you later..." For lack of a better option, Cyra looked at the computer console. "What do we call you anyway?"

"I wasn't given a name by my creators, miss Shepard." The AI said. "But I'd be happy to accept any designation you see fit."

"I'll leave that to someone else." The maiden said, smiling thinly. "I suck at making up names."

With an impersonal 'bye' the marine Lieutenant and the lead scientist left. It took them a good fifteen minutes to reach the entrance. The first thing the Asari did upon exiting the airlock was to call the gunnery chief, telling her she needed two medics to go down to the injured researchers ASAP. Much to Gordon's dismay her next order was to not let anyone but herself, the medics or the doctor enter the underground facility until further notice.

"For heaven's sake, why!?" The scientist demanded.

"You know damn well why!" Cyra snapped.

"No, I bloody well don't!" Gordon sputtered. "This is a tremendous discovery and we need..."

"That's a fucking...!" The Asari maiden shouted, first interrupting the doctor then herself, mindful of the small crowd that listened to their exchange. She forced herself to calm down. "Come with me please, doctor. We have to discuss this in private." She said, bringing her voice down to a more reasonable volume.

Cyra could see that he wanted to protest and stopped him with a hard stare. "Fine." He grumbled. "But can we at least go to my container? It's closer than your base."

"Okay." The maiden shrugged. "Lead the way."

The inside of Gordon's personal container looked like there was some sort of invisible wall in the middle. One half of the rectangular space had the appearance one would commonly call 'creative chaos'. Data pads were dispersed randomly around lab equipment, a few plastic ready meal containers were lying about and there was even some paper littered across this side of the room. The second half, obviously the living space, on the other hand was very tidy and tastefully furnished with an expensive looking couch, a relatively small but comfy looking bed, a glass table with a coffee machine on and a leather armchair next to it.

Cyra, however didn't have time to look around for upon exiting the container's small airlock, the head researcher immediately got rid of his helmet and spun around. "What the hell are you doing?" He demanded angrily. "You can't just restrict access to our dig!"

"Yes I can, doctor!" The maiden snarled, returning his fury in kind. "If this was still just an archaeological excavation you could do whatever the hell you wanted, but it isn't! Not any more! That's a god damned AI down there!"

"It's not a bloody reaper, for Christ's sake!" Gordon shouted. "It's no threat to us!"

"It doesn't fucking matter!" Cyra yelled, then took a breath and lowered her voice a little. "The laws and directives of the council regarding AIs still apply and to decide what to do with this discovery is quite frankly way beyond our pay grade!" She paused for a moment. "I'll have to report this to the citadel right now. You can go down and spend as much time with the AI as you like. But until the council decides what to do with this, everybody else stays out and that's final!"

The Asari saw his jaw tightening as Gordon gritted his teeth, glaring at her. She'd known he was going to be unhappy but there was nothing she could do about it. Hell, she was even bending the rules by giving _him_ access to the AI, but since he'd already seen and interacted with it she saw no harm in letting him go in again. When he didn't say anything she turned around and entered the airlock again. She was about to activate the pressurizing cycle when she heard him mumble: "Stupid boneheads and their regulations."

In a sudden, angry rush Cyra tore the helmet off her head and lunged out of the tiny chamber. "Don't you give me that shit, doc!" She hissed, bringing her face so close to his that the tips of their noses almost touched. Her green eyes were ablaze and her voice and fists trembled with barely restrained fury. "My parents told me a lot about what happened on the citadel sixty-five years ago that's not known to the general public. I know more about the reason these regulations are in place than you ever will! So if you don't like 'em, kindly go and screw yourself, you stupid fuck!"

Without waiting for a reply, the maiden whirled around, put her helmet back on and entered the airlock once more. It was a good thirty seconds after the inner door had closed behind her that Gordon dared to breathe again.

Having cooled down on her way back to the marine base, Cyra reproached herself for loosing her composure and especially for getting abusive. Gordon's little jingle had struck a nerve but that was no excuse to fly off the handle like that. The maiden sighed softly. Fatigue tended to do a number on her self-control, that was nothing new and something she needed to work on. She had to get some rest as soon as possible.

First however she made her way to the ops centre to report the findings at the dig to both the alliance admiralty and the citadel council. It only took minutes for the council to reply to the heavily encoded transmission. Cyra wasn't exactly surprised that they acknowledged the message so quickly. Anything related to any kind of AI technology was treated with the highest priority by the council. Still she had to admit she was impressed. Shorty after the first a second message followed, saying that all real time connections to or from the planet would be blocked and all other messages rerouted for inspection and if necessary censoring until further notice. The maiden leaned back in her chair. She had expected something like this to happen. The council obviously wanted to keep the discovery of a functioning AI a secret for now. Her marines weren't going to be very happy about this and the scientists even less so, but there was nothing she could do for now.

The Asari kept waiting for more messages but none came at this time. When Mike called in, reporting that the tree injured scientists were on their way out, she decided she'd waited just about long enough. She called the senior NCO, telling her about the communication blockade and the new rules for accessing the dig site, then walked back to her room. She took the time to get a shower after she'd slowly peeled off her combat armour. She didn't, however, bother to put on a nightgown before slipping beneath the clean sheets of her bed. The discovery of the AI seemed strangely unimportant to her, now that she'd reported it and basically made it somebody else's headache.

She just didn't have the energy to contemplate the possible consequences of such a discovery at the moment. Instead her mind went back to the talk she'd had with her soldiers.

Cyra snickered softly as she remembered the marines telling their stories. It had been the most fun she'd had in a while.

"Crazy first day." The maiden mumbled as she reached over to the small lamp on her nightstand and switched it off. She was asleep before her head even hit the pillow and, for the first time in months, she slept well.

* * *

And that's that for now.

Hope you had a little bit of fun and as always comments would be appreciated. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everybody.

Gotta admit I can't think of anything witty to say at the moment ;)

So without further ado, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it.

* * *

"Well, look who it is." Mike muttered under his breath, as him and Kenji were about to enter the small mess. To their right, doctor Gordon was studying the base's floor plans on a wall mounted display. "Hey, doc." The scientist winced as he was being addressed. "You lookin' for something?"

"Yes, err...I'm trying to find your Lieutenant." He replied, taking his eyes off the screen. "I was told she was probably in her office but I seem to be unable to find it."

The marines smirked as they watched Gordon scurry off after he'd been given direction. "Wonder what he wants from the LT." Kenji mused as they walked through the room to pick up their lunch.

"Probably wants to ask her to reopen the excavation site." Mike smiling thinly, as he scooped some noodles, vegetables and a little salad onto his tray. His smile widened a bit as he sniffed at the food. One of the few perks of this place was that their cook was pretty good and able to turn the average quality alliance issue foodstuffs into tasty meals. At least when he was sober.

"Well, he must be feeling lucky today then." Kenji said absently, balancing his own tray on one hand as he held a plastic cup under a water dispenser. "Lien said..."

"Who?" Mike cut in.

"The doctor's assistant." The tech explained. "I talked to her this morning and she said him and the LT must have had a shouting match of some kind." He paused and looked at the other man defiantly. "And yes we _just_ talked."

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah you didn't say anything very loudly." The Private shook his head at his friend's feigned look of innocence, then purposefully walked over to the table where Johanson and another female marine, one of their medics, were sitting. "Excuse me, ladies." He asked. "Are those seats taken?"

Kelly interrupted her conversation with the blonde medic and winked at Kenji. "Nope, have a seat, sugar."

Mike just stood there for a moment, looking at the younger man's back suspiciously before he followed him. "What the heck is he up to now?" He mumbled.

* * *

At the same time the Cyra and Gordon almost bumped into each other as they walked around a corner.

"Someone's in a hurry." The maiden said dryly, eyeing the startled scientist. "What are you doing here, doctor?"

"I came looking for you." He seemed to be a little uncomfortable.

"Is that so?" Cyra said coolly. "Well here I am."

Gordon didn't fail to notice the frosty tone of her voice. "Hey, look, I'm sorry I called you a bonehead, okay?" He said in a low voice. "I guess, I got a little excited there."

"I see." The Asari had to hide a smirk. She hadn't really been mad at the scientist but she'd wanted to see how he'd react. "Well, I may have used, shall we say, inappropriate language myself."

"I hmm...suppose I deserved that." Gordon said with a dismissive shrug. "Peace?"

"Peace." Cyra shook his extended hand, perhaps squeezing it a little harder than she had to. "Well that's that then." She added, felling a little guilty when she noticed him rubbing his aching limb "But you didn't just come here to mend fences did you?"

"No, I..." He took a deep breath. "To make I brief. I got a bunch of bored scientist's on my hands, can you please reopen the excavation?"

"You know I can't do that, doc." Cyra replied instantly. "As a matter of fact, I shouldn't even let _you_ go down to the AI."

"I'm not asking you..." The maiden interrupted Gordon by raising her hand.

"How about we discuss this some place else?" She said, nodding at the cold, grey hallway. "I was just on my way to get something to eat. Want to join me? The chow around here is supposed to be fairly good."

The academic thought about it for a second, the maiden looking at him expectantly. Military food didn't have the greatest of reputations and he wasn't particularly keen on trying it himself. On the other hand, the ready meals he normally ate around here weren't exactly fine cuisine either. And he actually was somewhat hungry.

"Sure, why not?" Gordon said. "If I'm not taking anyone's portion that is."

"I wouldn't worry about that, doc. In my experience there's usually more than enough food to go around in the alliance."

"Nice." The scientist smiles wryly as the followed Cyra towards the mess. "But did you really have to do that?"

"Did I have to do what?"

"Squishing my hand like that." Gordon said.

Cyra grinned wickedly. "I guess, I got a little excited there."

"God damn bonehead..." The young Asari's laughter put a smile on the researchers face. She was still giggling when they reached the mess and had to stop to pull herself together before she entered.

"So you'd like to get me to open up your dig again, hm?" She asked after they'd sat down on a free table with their food, noticing that basically everybody in the room threw them curious glances.

"Look, I know you're supposed to restrict access to the AI." Gordon said. "I know that the council is putting its foot down when it comes to anything even remotely close to a artificial life. But you could at least let us into the upper part of the ruins to do our thing."

Cyra thought about it as she chewed her first mouthful of pasta. "I wished I could, doc. I really do but I can't okay? According to my orders I shouldn't even let you go in."

"But we don't have access to the AI from the upper rooms." The doctor moaned.

"So far. But _it_ certainly has access to some of the hardware in there."

"How do you know that?"

"Come on, doc." Cyra put her fork down and wrinkled her nose, looking at the Human. "Your bonehead joke was all fine and dandy but would you please not act as if I was some kind of brain amputee?" She folded her arms as she sat back in her chair. "It called us by our names and AI or not, I doubt it could have learned our language from the few sentences we said in that chamber. It must have a connection to the rest of the facility and if that's the case it's safe to assume that one can also access our artificial friend from the terminals throughout the structure, wouldn't you say?"

"Of which we've only found a partially functioning one so far." The scientist pointed out, picking at his food.

"Yes but the AI seems adaptable enough to be able to work around broken hardware." The maiden reached for her fork. "I'm sorry, doctor, but the ruins stay closed for now."

Gordon lowered his head in defeat. "Can you at least tell me what's supposed to happen next? As in, how long do we have to sit around idly?"

"As far as I know, the council is going to send a team of 'specialists', whatever that means, in to assess the situation." She took a sip of water from her cup. "As to how long it's going to take, I honestly can't tell you. I'd guess it's at least going to take a few days to assemble the team and get them out here."

"A few days..." The scientist muttered unhappily.

For the next few minutes they ate in silence. Cyra felt bad for the scientist. If their roles had been reversed she'd be less than happy too.

"Our artificial friend asked for you by the way." Gordon said, finally breaking the silence.

"What?" The maiden's eyes widened considerably.

"Yeah, it wanted to know how you were doing." The academic smirked. "Let me tell you, this AI behaves weirdly. I admit I didn't really have a concept as to how an AI should be like, but certainly not like that."

"Can you be a little more specific, doctor?"

"Well, I went down there with a mental list of questions I wanted to ask." The scientist started to explain. "But I'm pretty sure it asked me more questions than the other way around." He paused for a second then suddenly started to laugh. "It asked if my species was tri-gendered."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, because Human and Asari physiology is so similar it thought we were of the same kind but different genders." Gordon snickered. "At first it didn't believe me when I said that our species developed on different planets."

"Excuse me, the AI didn't believe you?"

"Strange, isn't it?" The scientist said thoughtfully. "It flat out said so, without any of the numbers games AIs always play in the vids. You know, 'the odds are such and such against' and all that. I don't know to talk to it just feels so natural that at some point I almost forgot I was talking to an AI." He threw the Asari a hopeful look. "I'm afraid I'm not much of a computer person, but if someone else could take a look at the AI's systems, maybe we'd get an answer or two."

Cyra laughed softly, shaking her head. "And I'm sure you got you someone very special in mind for that, don't you?"

"Lien has a degree in cybernetics." Gordon said. "I admit it's only a minor degree but still..."

"That's your assistant, right?" The maiden inquired then continued after he'd nodded. "All right fine she can go in with you but you better make sure she shuts up about it."

"Thank you, I will." Before Cyra could react, the doctor took her hand and kissed it. "You won't regret this I promise." He said, jumped to his feet and strode towards the door without waiting for an answer.

The maiden perplexedly rubbed the back of her hand as she gaped after the researcher. It was only after the door had closed behind him that she noticed his half empty food tray. "Yeah, don't worry, doc." She mumbled sarcastically. "Let me clear the table for you."

* * *

Aside from numerous complaints regarding the restricted communication, the next few days went by without anything remarkable happening and Cyra finally had the opportunity to properly introduce herself to her platoon. She also familiarized herself with the base and the surrounding area and it slowly began to feel a little more like a home away from home. As far as a small, prefab stronghold on a barren rock planet could anyway.

* * *

On Earth, a couple of thousand light years away, things weren't going so well unfortunately.

With a weary groan, Ashley put her data pad away and buried her head in the pillow for a second. Trying to study was nothing but a waste of time right now. She just couldn't focus properly. The young Asari thought about going online but dismissed the idea quickly. The only show she'd done since that close encounter with Rose had been close to a disaster. In fact pretty much anything she'd tried to do in those few days since then had failed miserably. It was a good thing that there weren't any tests scheduled any time soon. She hadn't slept particularly well either.

Time and time again she'd thought of knocking on Rose's door and have a talk but she never quite dared to really do it. What if the Human was mad at her? What if she told her to piss off? That thought brought the cold sweat onto the maiden's forehead. Sometimes these 'what ifs' tormented her to a point where Ashley seriously considered going out and get blind drunk just to make them stop.

The sound of someone knocking at her door interrupted her brooding and she forced herself to get up. For a moment she had this almost irrational hope that it was Rose at her door but it turned out to be one of the male Humans of the small group of close friends she had on campus.

"Oh, hey Jimmy." Said the Asari morosely. Without waiting for an answer she turned around an walked back to her bed, leaving the door open.

"Oh, hey Jimmy?" The young man was taken aback by the curt greeting. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Is something wrong, Ash?"

"No, everything is fine." The maiden growled. "Everything is just peachy."

"Are you sure?" He Inquired. "Because those last couple of days..."

"Look, Jimmy" Ashley sighed fretfully. "I'm not in the mood for chit-chat right now, okay? What do you want?"

The young human stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, basically I just wanted to know about the where and when for Rose's surprise birthday party."

"Ah, yeah, that." Ashley groaned. She'd completely forgotten about this. "Better talk to Claire about that. I don't think, I'll be there."

"Wha...Excuse me?" Jimmy's eyebrows rose as far as they physically could. "But it was your idea Ash, I mean..." His voice died off as he wondered what on Earth was the matter.

"I don't think it would be a good idea." The Asari almost whispered.

"Ash what is going on between the two of you?" The Human exclaimed in disbelief. "You were as good as inseparable until a few days ago and now you barely look at each other...You guys had a falling out or something?"

Ashley's first impulse was to yell at Jimmy that this was none of his business and to move his ass out of her room but she managed to suppress it. "No, not exactly." She said instead. "I'd rather not talk about it."

The young mathematics major's eyes narrowed as he eyed the maiden. He leaned against a wall as he realized what the problem had to be. White teeth flashed in his dark face as he began to chuckle softly.

"What the fuck is so funny!?" Ashley snapped angrily. Being laughed at was just about the thing she needed least right now.

"I think I see what the problem is." He said softly. "It finally got serious between the two of you and now neither of you knows how to handle it, right?"

The maiden gawked hat him speechlessly. "What the...how do you...?"

"Oh please." Said the Human. "Everybody who's not blind as a bat can see that you girls have something special together. Everybody but you two it seems." He shook his head slightly. "You know the rest of our crew have a wager going as to when the both of you are finally gona get down to business?"

"You fucking what?!" Ashley was outraged that hers and Rose's private life was the subject of a bet. "You...You assholes! Who's in on this little wager huh? The whole bloody dorm?"

"Hey calm down okay?" Jimmy raised his hand defensively. "Just our little posse, nobody else. It's not like we got the whole campus involved."

"Idiots!" The maiden spat but her anger was subsiding quickly. "Who's idea was this?"

"Who do you think?"

"Ah yes of course." Ashley rolled her eyes derisively. "Choi, who else?"

"Who else indeed." The dark skinned human grinned, noticing the humorous glimmer in her eyes. "So birthday? Rosie's? Where? When?"

The hint of a smile vanished from the Asari's face instantly. "I...I can't okay..."

"Come on!" Jimmy exclaimed. "You're not going to chicken out on this, are you? I know it's technically none of my business but those last couple of days you've been walking around like a zombie. Be there! If only to have some fun, 'cause you certainly look like you could use some of that. And who knows, many things can happen in the heat of the moment." He slyly winked at her. "Ash, you won't get a better chance than this and if you don't give it a shot you may regret it later." He added when she still hesitated. "I admit, I'm only a mathematics nerd not a relationship coach but that much I can tell you. So where and when?"

Ashley finally gave in and told him the planned location and time, promising she'd be there. "Jimmy?" She said as he was about to leave.

"Hm?"

"Is it really so obvious?" She asked timidly. "With Rose and me?"

"To your friends, yeah." He nodded with a chuckle. "I remember when we first met...You didn't even notice that I was trying to flirt with you because you had only eyes for our redhead."

"You what?" The Asari's jaw dropped. "You were interested in me?"

"_Every_ guy in our little band was interested in you, both of you." He laughed. "I mean come on, you ladies are frikkin gorgeous! Anyway we all realised very quickly that we didn't have a chance with either of you as long as the other was around."

"Dummies." The Asari maiden said in feigned indignation. Jimmy dodged a pillow she threw at him then playfully danced around for a moment, acting as if he was in a boxing ring. "You got anything else to reveal? Care to relieve me of some delusions or something? Now would be a good time."

The dark skinned human pretended to give it some thought. "Hmm, no." He said, excessively scratching his chin. "Some of the professors may have been replaced with shape changing aliens, but I'm sure you already knew that, right?"

"Yeah very funny." Ashley growled. The situation began to feel somewhat embarrassing. "All right, fine. Thanks for the pep talk mister Freud. Now get your ass out of my room. I got work to do!"

Jimmy's laughter made the Asari smile involuntarily as she lay down on her bed. Was the Human right? She wondered. If so why did neither Rose nor herself realise that their feelings for each other went past mere friendship up until a few days ago? Was she in love with Rose?

"Screw it." She whispered, got up and walked over to the small wardrobe. She was fed up with mulling over what feelings she may or may not have for the red headed girl and vice versa. _'You'll never get a better chance and if you don't give it a shot you may regret it later.'_ She put on a warm jacket, quickly checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror and left the room. She'd gotten a present for Rose's twentieth birthday already but that wasn't going to cut it. She needed to get something else and Ashley had a pretty clear idea what.

"I'm not just going to give it a shot." She whispered as she boarded a maglev train to the city. "I'm going to give it my_ best_ shot and if I crash and burn, so be it." The thought of fucking it up with Rose horrified her but it was still better than driving herself mad with those 'what ifs'. The last thing she wanted was to look back on her time at the university someday and wonder...if only.

Besides, she wasn't going to crash and burn was she? She was a Shepard after all.

* * *

"Lien?" Gordon's young assistant interrupted her scans of the AI's systems as she heard her boss calling from the other side of the bridge.

She stood up and walked over to the doorway. "Yes, doctor?"

"Lien I need you to come out now." The head researcher said loudly. "A shuttle from the citadel is inbound and we don't want them to catch you in here."

The young woman's face fell a bit. The few days she'd been working with the AI so far had been some of the most interesting of her life. At first she'd been quite intimidated by the smart machine. She, of course, knew all about the artificial intelligences that had almost wiped out the galactic community. However after the first cautious conversations with the AI she'd found herself slowly warming up to it. Still she didn't quite know what to make of this particular talking computer.

"I'm almost done with this segment, doctor. Just a few more minutes please. " Even from across the bridge she could see him frown. "Please doctor."

"All right, fine. I'll give you ten more minutes but then you'll need to haul ass out of here." He said firmly. "Ten minutes, not a second longer, is that clear young lady?"

"Yes, doctor."

"Is something wrong, miss Chen?" The AI asked when she got back to the open panel.

"Why do you keep calling me 'miss Chen'?" The young woman inquired as she resumed scanning the AI's innards. "I must have told you a dozen times to call me Lien."

"Given the fact that doctor Gordon often calls you like that it seems appropriate to address you in this manner, miss Chen." The computer replied instantly.

"I prefer Lien, okay?" Said the girl. "After all the doctor calls me that often enough as well."

"I noticed, miss Chen."

"That meant: 'Call me Lien please'!"

"Yes, miss Chen." The young woman had to suppress the urge to break something as she glared at the circuit boards. She had this overwhelming feeling that the AI was making fun of her and she didn't quite know how to react to that.

"Fine!" Lien growled, unwilling to bicker with the computer any further. "Have it your way, Charlie." In moments like these the AI reminded the young woman of her annoying kid brother.

"Charlie?" Asked the intelligent machine. "Is that a name or a word?"

"A name."

"Is it my name now?" The AI asked. Did it sound excited? The girl wondered.

"Umm...sure, I guess." Lien felt a little uneasy. Was she going to get into trouble for giving this AI a name? She hoped not. "If you like it."

"Charlie, Charlie, Charlie." The computer repeated the name several times as if to test it's ring. "I like it. Thank you, Lien."

"You...!" The young human stared at the open panel in mute rage for a moment before she began to chuckle. "You're welcome, Charlie."

The next few minutes passed in silence as Lien completed the scan. So far she had only taken a superficial look at the data she'd gathered during the last few days but even so she knew that her feeble knowledge of computer systems wouldn't nearly be sufficient enough to understand this piece of technology. They'd need some experts, _real_ experts, here as soon as possible. Maybe they'd find a way to replace some of the malfunctioning systems with their own hardware. She wondered if this AI's unusual behaviour was related to broken systems, the alien technology or simply a result of aeons spent in solitude. The young Human shuddered at the thought of being left alone for millions of years. According to its own statement, the AI had only been conscious for a very small part of it but still.

"May I ask a question, Lien?" Charlie asked.

"Of course."

"Why is doctor Gordon afraid of you being found down here?" The AI wondered. Its voice had become a little more nuanced as of late and seemed to be able to convey emotions now. At least that's what the young woman thought. _'Or maybe I've just spent too much time talking to that bloody computer.'_

Aloud she said: "Well, I actually shouldn't be here."

"Are you doing something forbidden?"

Lien hesitated for a moment. Was she? It was strictly prohibited to build an AI and any research in that area was heavily restricted. However she had never heard of a law against interaction with one. "I don't think so, Charlie." She said. "However the people, who're coming to see you, probably wouldn't be too happy if they knew what I was doing."

"Who are these people?"

"I have no idea." Lien shrugged helplessly. "I only know that they're from our government. I assume they're mostly scientists."

"Why do they want to see me?"

"I'm not sure, honestly." The young woman was getting more and more uncomfortable. The AI's questions were going in a direction she didn't like at all. "I guess, they just want to see what you're like."

"They want to see if I am a threat to them, don't they?"

That question caught the young woman flat footed and she had to think for a moment. "It's possible." Lien admitted hesitantly. "You see we haven't exactly had the most positive experiences with artificial life so we're fairly cautious in that regard, I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize, Lien." Said Charlie amiably. "When it came to synthetic lifeforms my creators were just as prudent it would seem." The holographic projector came online, showing a schematic of the underground compound. "Which is why they built this structure without any external means of communication. The were afraid I'd find a way to leave this facility if given the opportunity."

"They told you that?"

"No one told me, no." The artificial life form sounded amused. "At least not directly. I simply find myself unable to come up with an alternative explanation for the lack of such a simple feature in an otherwise very well equipped installation."

"I see." The young human didn't know what else to say at first. "Would you like to leave?" She asked finally.

When asked a question the AI normally answered promptly but this time there was a pregnant pause before it spoke again. "I'm curious as to what is out there, what the world beyond this facility looks like." It said. "I only have abstract, deteriorating data about the rest of the universe and I admit, I'd like to see for myself. Alas I understand that is not possible at the time."

For the lack of something else to occupy her hands with, the young woman wiped away some dust from her suit. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the machine, as crazy as that sounded. "Do you think you could make use of our technology, Charlie?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know enough about it, I'm afraid. " The synthetic intelligence responded. "Why do you ask, Lien?"

"Well maybe..." She hesitated. "Maybe we can install some sensors outside for you. At least you'd be able to take a look around then. Not that there's much to see but still."

"You would do that?" The AI sounded surprised.

"I can't promise anything." The young woman replied. "But i can at least ask."

"That would be nice, thank you, Lien." Charlie said. "But you should go now. I believe the ten minutes, doctor Gordon gave you, are almost up."

"Oh." The young woman had completely forgotten about that. She quickly rose and tapped the dust off the lower parts of her environment suit. "Uhh, Charlie?" She said before heading for the door. "Would you mind not telling those other people that I was down here?"

"Of course not." The AI replied. "No one will be any the wiser." It was silent for a moment and the young human was almost at the door when it spoke again. "Lien?"

"Yes?"

"What will those other people do if they think I'm a threat?"

"I doubt that's going to happen, Charlie."

"But what if it does?"

Lien swallowed hard. "I...I don't know."

"I understand." Said the AI smoothly and casually as if it was talking about the weather but it had a decent idea of what the options would be. It hadn't learned to interpret human body language very well yet, but the girl's brief hesitation and the quickening of her heartbeat, told it all it needed to know.

"Charlie, I..."

"Please go now, Lien." The intelligent machine said. "I don't want you to get into trouble."

* * *

Topside, in the base's small traffic control room, Cyra watched a small green blip slowly moving closer to a slightly larger green blip, representing their position.

"Why am I here again?" Gordon asked behind her. He was still puffing fairly hard. Although this planet's gravity was only slightly above eighty percent standard, running all the way from the lower levels of the ruins to the marine base in an environment suit wasn't exactly a piece of cake. Certainly not for the scientist who usually preferred to let his brain do the work instead of his muscles.

"I don't know, doc, honestly." The maiden answered turning around. She pretended to scratch her nose to hide her amusement, seeing the result of the doctor's physical efforts. "I was only told that the citadel team wanted you to be around when they arrived, that's it."

"As if I didn't have better things to do." The lead scientist murmured sourly.

"Do you?" An impish glimmer in the Asari's eyes accompanied the question. "Do you really have better things to do with the dig site closed? A date or something maybe?"

"A date?" Gordon said after a short burst of laughter. "With whom would I have a date here? No, I'm working on a paper about our findings here that I'm planning to submit to the citadel science council."

"I see." Cyra said slowly, her features darkening somewhat. "Let's just hope you'll ever get to send it."

"Indeed." Gordon wanted to add something but the marine on duty cut in before he could, informing his platoon leader that the shuttle was due to land in a minute. Cyra called the gunnery chief, ordering her to meet them at the entrance then told Gordon to follow her with a wave of her hand. The Asari Lieutenant and the Humand scientist walked the short distance to the base airlock in silence, arriving just in time to see the shuttle land in a cloud of red dust. The pilot didn't bother to cut the engines and only waited long enough for his passengers to get clear before he took off again. A marine walked up to the small group and directed them to the airlock. Cyra could see two Turians and a Salarian amongst the group. The other three were either Human or Asaris but the maiden couldn't really tell because the helmets of their suits were partially caked with dust.

The airlock pressurizing cycle removed most of the rust coloured grime from their suits. Cyra's eyes widened as she saw a familiar face amongst the citadel team. "You've got to be bloody joking me." She whispered in disbelief rubbing her eyes with thumb and index finger.

"Hm? What is it?" Gordon wondered.

"Either someone on the citadel really hates me." Cyra growled softly, nodding towards the airlock. "Or really hates her. Or is fucking incompetent."

The scientist's eyebrows shot up but the inner doors opened before he could ask anything more. The first one of the group was a fairly tall human female with the badge of a citadel agent stitched onto her suit's upper right arm. For a moment she fumbled around with the lock of her helmet, oblivious to the people waiting. The woman's mouth fell open when she finally looked at the two.

"You!" She hissed, immediately locking eyes with the Asari maiden. "What are you doing here!?"

"Hello Sanderson." Cyra's voice was as smooth as honey, her gaze however was pure poison. "I was just about to ask you the same thing actually."

"That's _agent_ Sanderson to you." The look in the Human's eyes was no less murderous.

"I'll make a note of it." The maiden sneered. "The presence of such a fine _agent _will brighten everyone's day, I must say."

"Which is sorely needed I imagine." Sanderson retorted. "Especially your medics could probably use some cheering up. I'm sure they have to perpetually work overtime ever since you got here."

"No, not really. I haven't come across gross incompetence here yet."

The others, Humans, Turians and Salarian, just looked at one another in astonishment as the bickering continued, wondering what was going on.

Sensing an impending disaster, a female Turian, by the looks of it also a council agent, stepped up to the opponents before things could get out of hand. "Umm, excuse me...Lieutenant." She said her eyes darting back and forth between her colleague and the maiden. "We have quite a long flight behind us and some of us would like to get some rest. Could you direct us to our quarters, please?"

Cyra gave up the glaring contest and gave the Turian an apologetic look. "Yes of course, forgive me." She said, her eyes searching the room for the platoon's senior NCO. "Chief, would you show these people to their cabins, please?"

"Yes, Sir." Chief Adiga said, stepping out of the corner she'd discreetly watched the scene from. "Follow me, please."

The members of the citadel team, half of which were agents, half scientists, picked up their bags and walked out of the room in an awkward silence. Cyra had to forcefully call herself to order to keep herself from firing another jibe at Sanderson as she passed her. "Oh this is going to be fun." She whispered after the small group had left the room.

"Well." Doctor Gordon spoke up behind her. "That was certainly worth my time."

"Wasn't it?" The maiden said absently, staring at the door, their 'guests' had disappeared behind.

"You and this Sanderson woman don't particularly like each other, do you?"

Cyra turned around and gave the scientist a thin, humourless smile. "Kinda hard to miss huh?" The maiden said. "I broke her jaw a while ago."

"You broke a citadel agent's jaw?" The scientist lowered his head in disbelief, looking at the Asari over the top of his glasses.

"She wasn't back then. She was the intelligence officer of one of the ships I served on."

"Sounds like a story to me." Gordon eyed the maiden curiously. "Care to tell it?"

Cyra thoughtfully chewed on her lower lip for a moment. She wasn't supposed to talk about that but for some reason she really wanted to. "I can't say much, doctor." She began. "I led a special forces team at the time and we were sent to a remote planet to get a...a 'thing'. So we went in, got inside the objective just fine but the 'thing' wasn't there. And not just that, instead of the 'relatively light resistance' we were told to expect, we stirred up a bloody hornet's nest. We only got out by the skin of our teeth and one of my men got shot up so badly that he croaked on us. We..." The young Asari briefly turned her head away. When she faced the scientist again she blinked rapidly, wiping something off her face. "We just couldn't get him to a med bay in time, you know." She paused, her chest heaving as she noisily sucked in the air. "Anyway things got...heated at the debriefing. Long story short: Sanderson spent the next couple of days in the infirmary and I spent a night in the brig."

"I...I see." Gordon said lamely. "I'm sorry." He added, immediately cursing himself that he couldn't think of something better to say.

"Oh, you don't know the real kicker yet, doc." Cyra smiled weakly. "But if you want to hear that part you'll have to first get me drunk or something like that." She purposefully drew several long deep breaths to try and calm down.

"The dead soldier..." The researcher hesitated. "It sounds like he meant a lot to you." Was that the right thing to say? He wondered.

Cyra pursed her lips to a tight line. "All of them did, doctor." She said. "I mean, by that time my team and I had be through so much together...They all were much more than mere comrades to me." Gordon could see her features harden as sorrow was replaced by anger. "And then we had to watch one of us slowly die because of a goddamned intelligence fuck-up. And it wasn't the first one either." There was a long pause before she continued. "So no, I don't like our good lady Sanderson very much but I think attenuating circumstances apply in this case."

"Well I'm certainly not going to blame you for that." Said Gordon, trying to imagine what he would do under similar circumstances. _'Probably write a strongly worded letter'_ he sighed inwardly. He'd never been much of a fighter which was maybe why he found the maiden quite fascinating.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I still shouldn't have hit her in that briefing room." She said. "But..."

"But it felt good?"

"Maybe a little." Cyra smirked evilly "It's not something I'm proud of, though. As a matter of fact I was lucky they needed me or I certainly wouldn't have gotten away with just a night in the brig." The Asari's voice trailed off and she stared into the distance for a few moments. "Anyway you'd better go back to your camp and get some rest now, doc." She said eventually. "God knows what kind of timetable our friends from the citadel are planning to work by."

"Yeah I suppose you're right." Gordon had to admit he would have liked to hear a little bit more about the Lieutenant's history but she obviously was done talking about that for the time being.

"Doctor?" She said when the scientist was about to turn around.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for listening." Cyra smiled gratefully then, to the doctor's amazement, she leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek. The maiden headed for the doorway before he'd gathered up his wits enough to come up with an answer.

"My pleasure." He whispered after the door had closed with a hiss. As it turned out this hadn't been a complete waste of time after all.

* * *

_'Sanderson. Did it really have to be Sanderson?' _Cyra thought that evening, as she stared into the bathroom mirror, getting ready to go to sleep. Although it had happened almost half a year ago she remembered the confrontation with the intelligence officer as if it'd been yesterday. Even worse she could remember every detail of the deployment that had been the reason for it. The maiden took off the t-shirt and stared at her bare chest in the mirror. She gently touched the scarred over gunshot wound above her left breast with the tip of her index finger. It itched sometimes, a reminder of one of the other intelligence fuck-ups she'd casually mentioned earlier. Cyra's thoughts went back to the little conversation she'd had with the doctor. It had been good for her to talk about that mission to somebody, even though she hadn't been able to go into details. She'd certainly felt a little better. Nevertheless the nightmares, that hadn't bothered her for several nights in a row, came back with a vengeance.

* * *

That's it for now.

Constructive criticism and other comments are as always welcome.

Have a nice day all.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello folks.

Gotta say, I'm a little nervous about this chapter. You'll see why.

So here goes...

* * *

For what felt like the hundredth time Michael Leh, tried to clean his visor. Was the ubiquitous red dust a already nuisance under normal circumstances, it was a thousand times worse during the intermittently appearing storms. It got in everywhere, clogged even the smallest gaps between the armour plates and the airtight pressure suit underneath. It was an absolute bitch to clean. The Corporal wondered what good a guard was doing in this duster. Visibility was down to a couple of meters and the suit's enhanced vision modes were as good as useless too. Wouldn't be too hard to sneak up on him, Mike mused. A lukewarm shrug. Orders were orders were orders after all.

The small tactical display showed another marine approaching only barely before he heard the scrunching of the gravel over the sound of the wind. Even the communication was impaired because the stupid dust had high amounts of iron in it. He checked the time in the irrational hope that this could be his relief. Nope, he still had another hour to stand watch here.

"Good morning, Corporal." The Asari Lieutenant said as she emerged out of the storm.

"Morning Sir." Mike snapped to attention. "Don't know about good, but morning."

The Human smiled when he heard her snicker. It was nice to have a platoon leader who had a sense of humour and wasn't afraid to show it. He'd never quite understood those officers who were walking around stone faced, thinking they had to yell all the time. What could they possibly want to achieve with such a behaviour? If they tried to get respected that way it didn't work, 'cause all it usually ended up doing was to make people smirk mockingly as soon as their backs were turned.

"Anything to report?" Cyra asked.

The Corporal slowly shook his head. "It's a rather lively discussion in there, from time to time the eggheads are getting pretty loud." He gestured towards the prefab container in his back. "Other than that, I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Then again, an entire company of Krogans could have marched through the camp and I wouldn't know about it."

"Yeah, pretty ugly muck, isn't it?" The maiden let her gaze wander for a moment."They didn't tell me about this sort of weather at the travel agency."

"I'd ask for a refund if I were you LT."

"I definitely should." Cyra grinned. "Anyway, I better go in there and see what they want. Carry on Corporal."

"Aye, aye Sir." Mike couldn't help but cast an envious glance at the Lieutenant's suit as she walked past him, entering the prefab's small airlock. Alliance special forces troopers got issued only the very best equipment available in the known galaxy. The combat armour, for instance, was specially tailored to each individual soldier, something regular marines could only dream of. The ordinary trooper had to pick his suit from a set of sizes and although they were also of high quality and somewhat adjustable, it was quite difficult to get a decent fit. A very old joke in the corps said that there were only two sizes of armour available at any given arsenal: slightly too small and slightly too large.

Out of boredom Mike moved a little closer to the container and attempted to listen in. Unfortunately all he could hear was an unintelligible mumble. The citadel scientist had been going in and out the ruins for several days now, while the agents had been snooping around the base in a manner that hadn't exactly made them popular with the marines. Now all of them were in there along with some of the 'local' researchers, discussing whatever.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again as his feet began to hurt. Not badly but enough to make him wish for the time to go by quicker even more. He had fifteen minutes left on his shift when the door behind him opened, spitting out a whole slew of people. By the looks of it the conference was over although some of the scientists were still discussing quite emotionally. Busy trying to catch what was said, Mike didn't notice the Asari maiden stepping up to him right away.

"Looks like it's going to get a whole lot more lively around here, Corporal." Cyra said, watching the group disappear in the dust storm.

"Sir?" Mike hoped that she hadn't seen him wince.

"Yeah, they're planning to bring more people in to take a look at the AI." Said the maiden. "Quite a few high profile scientists among them."

"I see."

"Cheer up, Corporal." Cyra snickered when she saw the Human shrug indifferently. "The comm restrictions are supposed to be lifted as well."

"Really?" Mike perked up immediately. Now those were good news.

"Yep." The maiden nodded. "However we're not supposed to talk about the AI naturally, so our agent friends may monitor real time calls on a random basis. I'd not talk about private stuff to your girlfriend if I were you."

The Corporal frowned. "Who told you about my girlfriend...Sir?" He growled. Not that he felt the need to hide anything in that respect. After all most of the platoon knew. However he didn't appreciate people talking about his love life behind his back either.

"Relax, Leh." Cyra grinned "No one told me. It was just a shot in the dark."

"Oh." The young Human blushed. Feeling a little stupid he quickly tried to change the subject. "Will we have to put up additional guard posts, sir?"

"Probably not." Cyra replied. "Other than an increased number of scientists walking about things will most remain as they are now." As Mike wiped his visor clean once more he could see an impish glimmer in the maiden's eyes. "Although if you think you'll need more guard duty practice, I'm sure I can arrange something, Corporal."

"No, no. For heaven's sake no. I'm good, sir." The Human assured Cyra in a hurry. Sure, the Lieutenant probably wasn't serious, but the notion was just too awful to entertain. "I was just wondering, sir."

"Well if it helps, I got quite a bit of paperwork ahead of me." The maiden said, noticing the Corporal's horrified expression behind the partially covered visor. "Pretty sure that's just as tedious as standing out here and the view isn't any better either."

"Well, luckily I'm supposed to be relieved in ten anyway."

"Good for you, Corporal." Cyra smirked as she turned to leave. "Have fun, virtually smooching with your girl."

"Oh, I will, Sir." Mike said with a dreamy smile. "I will."

* * *

A soft red shimmer on the horizon was all that remained of the daylight as the sky outside Rose Cavanaugh's room darkened more and more. Soon the day would be over. Rose's twentieth birthday would be over. The ancient mechanical clock ticked softly, it's hour hand slowly getting closer to the digit eleven, as, in a sudden explosion of noise the, room's current occupant and her Asari friend burst through the door. While the two young females weren't exactly drunk they certainly did feel the influence of the alcohol they'd consumed earlier as they made their way to the bed, laughing all the way.

"Did you see Jimmy's face when Claire offered him a lap dance?" Rose asked after they'd laid down. and the laughter, that'd only just quieted down, came back in earnest.

"If he could do a hundred push-ups in two minutes, yeah!" Ashley giggled merrily. "I didn't think he'd actually try it."

"She knows how to bring people out of their shells." The ginger snickered. "Too bad he couldn't quite do it. I would have loved to see that."

"Yeah, me too." The Asari maiden grinned. "How far did he get again? Seventy something, right?"

"Something like that, yes." Rose stared at the ceiling as she tried to remember. "Pretty good for a mathematics nerd."

"Pretty damn good." Ashley agreed. "He's probably going to regret it tomorrow though."

"Yeah." The redhead chuckled. "Our dear frenchy has always had a bit of a mean streak about her." The young women fell silent for a few moments. "I've had so much fun, Ash." Rose said eventually. "That was by far the best birthday of my life."

The maiden smiled complacently. It _had _been a very nice day indeed. The whole posse of friends, the both of them had on campus, had basically taken the day off and descended on the city's entertainment districts. The awkwardness between Rose and Ashley, while it didn't vanish completely, it had faded into the background more and more as they were having fun. They'd had themselves scared in a virtual reality ghost train ride and exhilarated in a starship simulator. They'd shot at one another with low powered lasers in an arena and tried to be fastest driving go-kart around a track. The small group had even managed to get into a vid studio, watching how a popular show was made. Finally they'd taken the birthday girl to a fancy restaurant and a few clubs. And naturally, on top of everything else, quite a bit of booze had been consumed as the day went by.

"Well, It is your twentieth isn't it?" Ashley pointed out. "That's something special for humans, right?"

"Yes, it kind of is." The redhead said, curiously eyeing the maiden. "Do Asari have a special birthday or something like that?"

Ashley thought about it for a while. "Not really." She then replied. "The hundredth maybe? I guess that would be the closest but it's not as big of a deal."

"I see." Rose whispered, her hand seeking Ashley's. "Thanks, Ash. That was a great day."

"Hey, all of us made that work, not just me." The maiden smiled, nodding towards the clock. "Besides, the day isn't over just yet."

"What do you mean?" The ginger asked breathlessly. There was the tension again, so thick one could have choked on it.

"Can I use your bathroom for a second?" Ashley asked in a low voice, ignoring the Human's question.

"Sure." Rose said. Her heart rate quickened considerably as the Asari threw her a wink and walked towards the bathroom, letting her hips sway a bit more than usual. The redhead swallowed as the door closed behind her fellow student. Ashley had promised her a surprise. Rose racked her brain, but she couldn't think of anything, that'd happened earlier in the day, that would classify as such. The Human girl barely dared to imagine that the surprise could be what she hoped.

In the small bathroom, Ashley was grateful that the alcohol in her system steadied her nerves at least enough that her hands weren't trembling as she began to unbutton her blouse. The maiden looked at her image in the mirror for a second after she was done. _'This is it, Ash.'_ She thought. _'The hall has been rented, an orchestra engaged...and now you'll have to show that you can dance.'_ Then, after taking a deep breath, she reopened the door, hoping she outwardly looked more confident than she felt.

Rose almost involuntarily stood up as she saw the maiden standing in the door. "What do you think?" Ashley asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"You...you look good, Ash." The redhead said huskily. All the Asari was wearing was expensive looking white lingerie, that for one thing, contrasted beautifully with her blue skin and, for another thing, left nothing of importance to the imagination.

"I got you the same set." The maiden said as she started to slowly move towards Rose. "It does come with panties and a proper bra of course but I thought I could do without those today." She added taking one small step at a time.

"Good idea." Was all the young Human was able to reply, her voice strained with arousal. _'Oh god, please let this be real.'_

Time seemed to stand still when they finally stood face to face, close enough that the young women could feel the other's warm breath on their skin. As she slowly leaned closer Ashley had this almost panic like fear that this time it would be the ginger who pulled away. But she didn't and the Asari inwardly rejoiced as their lips touched. At first the kiss was cautious, almost apprehensive but it didn't stay that way for much more than a nanosecond. The Asari could feel Rose's arm sneak around her waist, pulling her closer as the young females gave in to their desire. The fierce, passionate kiss got longer and longer and only their bodies' need for oxygen made them stop long enough to take one or two quick breaths. Only when Ashley felt Rose's hand glide between her legs, did she regain some semblance of self control.

"Wait, Rosie." The maiden breathed. "Not...not yet."

For a tiny moment there was a look of fright in the redhead's eyes but it disappeared when Ashley tried to open Rose's pants. Lust made the both of them quite clumsy and after a couple of moments, fumbling around trying to open her blouse, Rose impatiently tore it open. A few buttons got ripped off and briefly rolled on the floor but the Human paid them no mind and proceeded to take off her bra as Ashley'd finally managed to get her pants open. Panties and bra joined the collection of clothes on the floor as the maiden, after another deep and loving kiss, gently pushed the ginger towards the bed. As she lay down on the soft mattress, the Asari on top of her, Rose immediately began running her hands all over the maiden's body.

"Wait, Rosie." Ashley whispered again, gently taking the ginger's head in both hands. "Try and relax, okay?"

"Relax?!" Rose rasped, arousal made her breath come in hard bursts. "You're kidding, right...?"

"This time we go the full monty." The Asari maiden explained softly. Her partner's eyes widened when she understood. _'All right, Ashley, it's show time. DON'T screw this up now!' _She took another deep breath and began to send out the feelers of her mind. Experienced Asaris didn't need physical contact to perform a mind meld. Ashley however very much did. She used her hand as beacons to guide her mind. She could feel a tiny bit of resistance from Rose and needed a few tries to get it right. Almost overwhelmed with unfamiliar sensations, the two young females gasped in unison once the bridging of their minds was complete.

"Wow." Rose breathed. Not only could she feel everything from the Asari's perspective, also her own senses seemed to be ten times more acute. A simple touch to her hips made the Human girl shiver with delight.

"Wow indeed." Ashley whispered. She took a few moments to get used to the new cognition then bent down and began to kiss and caress the Human's abdomen. Rose closed her eyes and opened up her thighs, purring lustfully as the maiden worked her way downward. She wasn't quite ready for the sensory assault that was about to happen.

Rose's eyes popped back open and she violently sucked in the air as Ashley pressed a hand against the redhead's quim. "Holy shit!" Ashley couldn't tell whether it was Rose or herself who'd blurted out these words. The wave of pleasure coming from the Human girl was intense enough that the inexperienced Asari almost lost the meld. Ashley took a moment to get the connection of their minds stable again, lovingly looking at the wheezing woman underneath her.

Rose arced her back and pushed her hips up, expelling her breath in a long, drawn-out moan as the maiden buried several fingers between her legs. The Human girl threw her head back, her moans becoming louder and louder, as Ashley massaged her vagina. She reached her first climax in less than a minute. The Asari interrupted the meld to allow the both of them to gather up their senses, for she was gasping for air just as intensely as Rose.

"Jesus!" The redhead panted. "That was...that was..."

"Crazy? Amazing?" Ashley tried to steady her breath. "Crazily amazing?"

"No, it was shit." The human said. "I mean, what were you thinking, tearing up my mind _and _my pussy like that, huh?"

Ashley wasn't fooled for a second of course. Rose's penchant for crude humour tended to surface at the unlikeliest of moments. Especially so, when she didn't quite know how to handle something. The meld had surpassed her wildest expectations and although it had been way too short, it'd been by far the best sex she'd ever had already.

"I mean seriously..." She began anew but Ashley cut her off by kissing her on the mouth.

"You talk way too much, Rosie." The maiden affectionately ran a hand up and down her partner's side. "All you need to do is ask."

"Huh?"

"Want some more shitty melding style sex?" The Asari grinned lecherously.

"Oh god, yes!"

* * *

Angela Vaswani couldn't fully suppress a frown as she walked up the stairs to her mother's apartment. The security checks always annoyed her. After all the presidium was supposed to be safe, and still she'd had to go through the tedious procedure no less than three times since she'd entered the government district. Her heartbeat quickened somewhat as the young Human continued upwards, taking one step at a time. She could have taken the elevator of course but she preferred walking. Her internship at one of the citadel's clinics didn't leave her a whole lot of free time and she figured she might as well get some exercise in her day to day life instead of going to a gym.

She had to restrain herself from snapping at the security guy, guarding the entrance to her mother's home. He was, in the end, only doing his job and wasn't to blame for her foul mood. A real time call from her boyfriend earlier in the day had cheered the young woman up immensely but any positive effect from that had quickly evaporated when her mum had asked her to come home for a talk a few hours later. For a moment she'd considered to refuse but her mother had sounded strangely excited. Besides the elder Vaswani wasn't someone you casually said 'no' to. Rumour had it that the high ranking diplomat was groomed to be the next human councillor.

_'Oh joy.'_ Angela thought, as she walked through the expensively and tastefully furnished loft. _'As if the security measures weren't crazy enough already.' _To most young people the prospect of having a parent of theirs be a member of the citadel council would have been exciting but not to Angela. With her twenty-one years of age she'd already seen enough to know that, as far as she was concerned, politics were something to be avoided like the plague. Having reached her mother's study the young woman reluctantly puffed up her cheeks before she pressed the buzzer next to the door.

"Come in."

In appearance Angela's mother Satya was pretty much an older version of her daughter. The same light brown skin and long, jet black hair. The same charming brown eyes, high cheekbones and delicate nose. The outward differences between mother and daughter were in the details. The look in Satya's eyes was a little harder, the lips a little thinner, her posture a wee bit stiffer. Behind the desk sat a woman who'd learned to control herself and was used to navigate the shark infested waters of citadel politics and diplomacy. Her mother was among the many reasons why Angela intended to stay away from all of this. Another stood right next to the elder Vaswani.

Angela's mood took a further dive when she saw her step-father George Belfort standing beside Satya. Was the bond between mother and daughter somewhat strained, describing the relationship between the young woman and the investment banker with the same adjective would have been a massive understatement. Angela simply couldn't understand what her mother saw in this guy. Sure, their marriage was most certainly not based on feelings and was more a strategic alliance of money and political influence than anything else. But there surely had been better alternatives to achieve that than to get involved with this, admittedly fairly good looking, sleazeball.

"Ah, Angela." Satya said with one of her friendlier smiles. "There you are."

"Hello, mother." The younger woman said cautiously, wrinkling her nose faintly as she looked at her step-father. "George." There was a short pause. "So, tell me, what is so important that you need to talk to me in person?"

Satya gave her daughter a quick look then turned the computer screen, she'd been staring at, around. "Recognize this?" She asked flatly and leaned back in her chair.

Angela moved closer to take a proper look at the image the monitor showed. It was basically just a picture of a barren planet with it's designation and some basic data written down next to it. The future doctor's eyes widened slightly and a queasy feeling began to assert itself in her stomach. She indeed did recognize the planet on the picture.

"It's the planet your boyfriend is stationed on, isn't it?" Satya didn't wait for her daughter to answer.

"It is." The young woman said casually, trying to dissemble her uneasiness. "What about it?"

"Something happened there." Angela's guts seemed to knot together as her step-father spoke up. "Relax." The banker said with a tight smile. "Your soldier boy is just fine."

This time the young woman didn't bother to hide her feelings as she heaved a sigh of relief. Mike was fine! She quickly got a hold of herself though, looking at the financier through narrow eyes. While Satya wasn't too happy with her daughter's relationship to a simple marine she accepted that the choice of her lovers was Angela's and let it be. For the time being at any rate. George on the other hand used every opportunity to fire shots at the young woman's boyfriend.

"I admit he doesn't make a whole lot of money, serving in the marine corps." Angela said pointedly, miffed about the scornful tone of the banker's voice. "But it's an _honest_ living at least."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Her step-father demanded, his face flushing noticeably.

"Hm? It's a simple sentence." The young woman pretended to be clueless. "There's no need to get all worked up over it...Oh, unless of course _you_ think not all of _your_ business endeavors are on the up and up."

"Now you listen to me, young lady..." George began but Satya firmly cut in, unwilling to waste some of her precious time being a witness to her daughter's and her husband's verbal dispute.

"Enough!" The diplomat barked. "That's not the what this is about."

"What _is _it about then, mother?" Angela asked irritably, casting a venomous glare at the investment banker. "How come you're all of a sudden interested about the planet Mike is stationed on?"

"Because it would seem that several things have changed there as of late."

"Such as?"

"Well for one: That your soldier boy's new commanding officer is _the _Shepard's daughter." George's complexion was still somewhat reddened as he growled at his step-daughter. "Which you failed to mention."

"Excuse me? I failed to mention?" The implication that she'd done something wrong made Angela angry. The med student perhaps hadn't inherited her mother's iron will but she wanted to be damned if she allowed herself to be pushed around by that creep of a step-father. "I wasn't aware that it was my civic duty to report such things. Up until now neither of you have given, forgive the term, a rat's ass about Mike or anybody else in his unit so don't expect me to come running with the news every time he gets a new platoon leader."

Satya suppressed a smile as she held up her hand. She sometimes was a spitfire, her daughter. "Nobody reproaches you for not saying anything, dear." The diplomat said amiably. "It is an interesting fact though, one I'd liked to have known about sooner I admit."

"Oh really?" The younger woman said with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Angela, someday you'll really need to develop a sense for arising opportunities." Said the elder Vaswani. "To make the acquaintance of one of Commander Shepard's daughters could potentially benefit you greatly."

_'You mean benefit YOU greatly, right mother?' _Angela thought. Aloud she said: "How would that work?" She pointed at the computer screen. "That planet is thousands of light-years away."

"Oh I'm not saying you should try to force anything, dear." Satya said. "But in case your wonderful boyfriend's unit happens to be transferred off this planet and to a somewhat more accessible location something may come out of it."

Now that was an enticing thought the young med student had to admit, although her mind went to a different kind of opportunity than what her mum was thinking about. "Fine, I'll keep it in mind." She sighed. She couldn't be bothered discussing this any further. "But you didn't ask to meet me solely to lecture me on opportunities, did you mother?"

Satya clasped her hands and gave her daughter a scrutinizing look. "No I didn't." She said. "Tell me, when was the last time you've spoken to your boyfriend?"

"Huh?" Angela's eyebrows shot up. That question she hadn't reckoned with. "A few hours ago, why?"

"Did he mention anything about local occurrences by any chance?"

"Well, he said that things were a bit more interesting as of late." Angela replied. A smile crept onto the young woman's face when she remembered the call.

"I see." Satya said thoughtfully. "Anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Well, Mike umm..." The med student blushed a bit. "Mike didn't want to talk about...you know...more private matters. He said _somebody_ may be listening in."

Husband and wife exchanged a look. "Interesting." The diplomat merely said.

"Mother, what is going on?" Angela asked.

"It would seem a discovery was made on this planet." The elder woman nodded towards the screen. "I can't tell you exactly what it is I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?" Angela's eyes narrowed a little. "You can't tell me because you don't know or because it's some kind of secret?"

"It's a secret dear, I'm sorry." The elder Vaswani said regretfully. "But whatever the case, this planet may become the subject of citadel politics fairly soon. Now, I would like to know more about the situation on site. It might give me an edge in any future negotiations in the matter."

"Hold on a minute." The med student eyed her mother for a few moments as she realised where this was going. "No WAY I'm going to get Mike into trouble by asking him to play the spy for you!"

"Nobody is asking you anything of the sort, Angela." Satya raised her hand soothingly. "However if he happens to mention anything, people arriving or leaving for example. It could help the alliance a great deal if I knew such things. Every little detail could help."

"_If_ he 'happens to mention anything' I'll think about relaying it to you." The young woman said, careful not to make any promises. "_If _Mike's okay with it. Otherwise it's a no go."

"I'm afraid telling him about it is not really an option." Satya's eyes assumed the warmth of an icicle. "As your boyfriend has told you the calls seem to be monitored, most likely by citadel agents and I don't want them to know that I have a special interest in this."

"Forget it then." Angela said firmly. "Again, I don't want to get him into trouble."

Satya gave her daughter a tight-lipped smile. "You may want to think about that again my dear." She said coolly. "You boy could find himself transferred to a vessel patrolling the far reaches of known space for the remainder of his contract otherwise. It can be quite dangerous out there on the fringes of citadel space and communications are extremely limited. Or so I'm told anyway."

Angela gaped at the older woman in disbelief. "You can't do that!"

"I'm on a first name basis with most of the alliance admiralty my dear." Satya said flatly. "Quite a few of them owe me a favour or two. Need I say more?"

"And what if Mike doesn't 'happen to mention anything'?" Angela hissed through clenched teeth, her jaw muscles tensing up in anger. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her step-father grin impertinently.

"Well, I suppose we have to hope that he does, don't we?" Satya said and sat back in her leather chair. "I regret that I have to resort to such measures, Angela. I really do but this matter is more important than your scruples. I'm sorry."

"I bet you are!" Angela managed to say in a voice strained with fury. Never before had her mother done something like that to her and the young woman was disgusted to the point where she felt she'd throw up if she had to stay in this room much longer. "Can I go now?"

"Of course." Satya sighed softly when her daughter stormed out of the room after casting a harsh glare at her. At the moment Angela wouldn't give, as she'd put it earlier, a rat's ass about it but the diplomat honestly deplored having to threaten her girl like that. She, however, had sacrificed way too much for her career already to back down now and if she had to leverage her daughter for information to maybe get a small advantage in the future, so be it. Someday she'd make it up to her. She didn't quite know how yet, but she would. She really would.

* * *

George Belfort left his wife's study shortly after Angela. Unlike his step-daughter he knew what was up on that Mars-like planet. He wasn't supposed to naturally, but that had been the deal between him and Satya. She gave him information that weren't available to the public, thereby giving him a good idea how and where to invest, and he used a decent chunk of the money he made that way to help her advance her career. I was beautiful, really. Unlike Angela he'd learned from an early age to spot and capitalize on opportunities presenting themselves. And this discovery was a gold mine if there ever was one.

The investment banker went to his own study. He'd have a few calls to make. First and foremost to an old college friend of his. They'd both made it to the top albeit in entirely different fields of work. Had George entered the financial world, his buddy had gone into science and was now one of the galaxy's leading experts on virtual or artificial intelligences and a professor at MIT. The council would almost certainly contact him in the matter. With any luck he'd even get to see the AI for himself. George smiled as he established the connection. Life was nothing but an endless streak of opportunities. You just needed to know how to benefit from them.

The call took almost an hour, very long for the banker. He usually had neither the time nor the need for chit-chat but in this case he could justify it. He pensively rubbed his chin afterwards. He wasn't quite sure yet whether the presence of one of Shepard's daughters on the scene was a blessing or a curse. No matter. He'd find a way to profit from it in some way. Just like he always did.

His next move was to go to the extranet site of a very exclusive call girl ring, operating in the presidium. Some of the girls there took five figures for just a hour, but he could afford that easily. Satya didn't care about her husband's escapades, as long as he was discreet. The two of them had slept together precisely once, in their wedding night, after which Satya had plainly informed him that she had no intention to do it again.

He leaned back in his chair after choosing two of the most expensive girls available. He smiled. The days and weeks ahead promised to be very interesting indeed.

* * *

The small dorm room grew quiet as it's occupants breaths got more regular. For a while neither Ashley nor Rose said anything. They just held on to each other, exhausted after going at it for close to two hours. It had taken a bit of practice but the Asari maiden had eventually learned to control the meld a little better. She'd read about members of her species who were able to keep themselves and their partners on the brink of an orgasm for hours on end. Ashley was obviously not nearly as skilled yet but at least she'd been able to keep them from climaxing right away all the time.

"I hope this isn't a dream." The redhead said finally, giving Ashley's left breast a gentle squeeze as if she wanted to make sure that the Asari was real and not a ghost or anything of the sort.

"It'd better not be." The maiden agreed. Her breathing got a little louder again. As tired as she was, Rose fondling her boobs aroused her instantly. "If I wake up in my own bed in a minute, I'm going to be royally pissed."

"Yeah, me too." The Human giggled and intensified her efforts, now going after both the Asari's breasts. "It really can't be a dream." Rose mumbled, enjoying the feel of the maiden's soft flesh. "My dreams are never that great."

"Mine aren't either." Ashley moaned softly.

"One more round?" The ginger asked hopefully.

"I'm kinda tired, Rosie." The maiden breathed, yet starting to return Rose's affections.

"But it's my birthday." The Human said with a clearly overacted pout.

"Not any more it isn't." Ashley ran her hand tenderly up and down her partner's back. "I think I could be persuaded to go the extra mile though."

"Is that so?" Upon hearing that, Rose wasted no time getting to work. She took one of the Asari's nipples in her mouth, teasing it with her tongue while one of her hands poked and prodded Ashley's quim. "How am I doing at persuasion right now?" She playfully asked after a few moments.

"P...pretty good." Ashley stammered. Unwilling to wait any longer she grabbed the Human girl by the shoulders and pulled her closer. "Come here, Rosie!"

Afterwards the two young females lay in each other's arms lazily. Some Asari scoffed at sex, claiming a melding was only pure and worthwhile if it didn't involve physical contact. To the young maiden such an idea was sheer lunacy. If simple physical stimulation could bring her such pleasure why not enjoy it and enhance the experience by melding? Pure! Bah! Probably some frustrated, old crones who claimed that. She pushed those thoughts aside. The moment was far too precious to burden herself with some mentally deficient theories.

She ran her finger affectionately along the ginger's jawbone. "I love you, Rose." Ashley said, more to test the sound of it than to convey how she felt, then repeated the sentence because she liked it so much. Words weren't necessary. The melding had told them all they needed to know about their feelings. Nevertheless the redhead's eyes lit up but instead of a verbal answer, she pulled the maiden closer and lovingly kissed her on the mouth. Their curiosity and their desires completely satisfied the young females drifted off to sleep on the ruffled sheets, a day behind them neither of them would forget.

* * *

That's it for now.

How was it? Too much smooching? Too little smooching? Too explicit? Not explicit enough?

….Too cheesy maybe? Anything else you would have liked to see more or less of?

Would like to know what you think.

Until next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello Folks.

Not much to say except, the new chapter is here. (Obviously)

Here goes...

* * *

The tremor could be felt throughout the base, stirring up the water in Mike's cup. The related thump, on the other hand, was barely audible. The young marine paid it no mind. It was just another prefab container being dropped. This morning a ship from the citadel had arrived in orbit and begun dropping these at a rate of about one every fifteen minutes. The new scientists, quite a few by the looks of it, were supposed to arrive within the next few weeks. The frown on this face had other reasons however.

"Hey." A hand grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Mike?"

"Huh?" The Corporal was barely aware that there was a fairly lively discussion going on around him as he looked around the table blankly. "What was that?"

"Everything all right?" Kelly wanted to know, raising a brow enquiringly. "You're usually not mister dark and brooding."

"Oh that?" Mike shifted his attention to his food tray, which he'd barely touched so far. "I got a call from Angie and..."

The young man interrupted himself, scowling at his fellow troopers as the whole table, except for the Amazon, erupted in whoops and whistles.

"Something wrong?" Kelly asked, making the others shut up with a hard stare.

"I'm not sure." Mike shrugged helplessly. "I don't think so. She was a little strange today..."

"Oh-oh." One of the marines said with a wolfish grin. He wanted to say something more but Kelly silenced him with a kick to his shin.

"Shut your yap, Epstein." She snapped as the man grimaced, bending down to rub his aching leg. "Mike?"

"You know what? Forget it." The Corporal said, flushing with annoyance and embarrassment as he noticed the smirks around the table. Half of which were directed at him, half at Epstein. "What were you guys talking about again?" He asked unwilling to talk about Angela any more. All it was going to get him at the moment was gloating from his fellow marines, silly grins and remarks. He wasn't in the mood for that.

Kelly eyed him for a moment before she replied. "We were talking about the newest member of our platoon." She grinned, pointing at a table on the far side of the mess.

"Who?" Mike wondered as he looked in the direction she was pointing. "Oh him." He started to snicker as he recognized doctor Gordon enjoying the company of their platoon leader once again.

"Yeah, him." Kelly smiled as she looked at the lead scientist amusedly. "We were wondering if he really liked our chow so much..."

"...Or if it was something else he was after." Another marine chimed in finishing the sentence in the Amazon's place.

Soft chuckling rippled through the soldiers at the table. "Yeah well." Kelly said, nodding towards the Asari with a playful grin. "If any of you guys are interested in our lovely Lieutenant, I'd say you better get it on soon."

"No thank you." The marine opposite of Mike muttered under his breath.

"Oh Ming." Mike grinned. Admittedly he himself wasn't above gloating. "You still miffed that she used you as a punching b...I mean as a sparring partner the other day?"

"I'd like to see you do any better, Leh." The other man growled, contorting his face as he remembered the trouncing he got from the maiden. "That's one mean lady, our LT." He added sourly as the others chuckled at his expense.

"Well she _is _an N7." Kelly said with a smirk. "From what I hear, they're all pretty mean."

"Ain't that right." Mike grunted and got busy with the food on his tray. His mind however went back to the talk he'd had with his girlfriend. She'd appeared self-conscious which was very unusual for her. She'd also asked questions about the platoon and the base, something else she'd never done before. At least not on her own accord. When he'd talked about his buddies she would sometimes ask to clarify things but not otherwise. He mechanically chewed his food one mouthful at a time.

"Must have been a hell of a call." Kelly said dryly as she shook him a second time. Mike blinked as he realized that the two of them were now sitting at the table alone. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the others leaving.

"Huh?" Mike said for the second time in a few minutes. "Oh umm...Yeah it was weird. Yesterday everything was normal and then today...I don't know. It almost felt like she wanted to get something over with."

"I see." The colossal woman gave her fellow marine a sympathetic look. He was obviously stressed by his girlfriend's unusual behaviour and had spent too much time thinking about it for his own good. " I'm sure everything is fine. Perhaps she was in a hurry or had a bad day at work or something?"

"Yeah, maybe." He didn't sound convinced. Stationed on a remote outpost with a sweetheart at home, he probably feared what every soldier in this situation would be afraid of. Kelly hoped this wasn't the case here. Too many of the guys and girls in the unit had received a 'dear John' letter while stationed on this damned rock. It was never a pretty sight.

"Are you supposed to be on duty any time soon?" She asked, trying to get his mind off things. That was one of the problems here. People had too much time on their hands and not enough to do to keep themselves occupied. Imagination unfortunately tended to run rampant in such a case.

"Nah." Mike replied after he'd checked the time. "Not for another three plus hours. Why?"

"Oh, I was thinking of going for a walk outside." Kelly smiled. "Wanna join me?"

"A walk?" Mike's eyebrows almost disappeared underneath the sweatband of his beret as he looked at the Amazon in surprise. "What the hell for?"

"It helps me to relax." Said Kelly with a sweeping gesture. "Don't know about you but these walls drive me crazy sometimes."

"They really do." Mike agreed. The more he thought about it the better the idea sounded. "You know what? Count me in."

"Great." She grinned broadly. "Let's go then."

The two marines rose, put their food trays into the auto-cleanser and left the mess, heading for the locker room.

"Johanson?" Mike spoke up as they were putting on their suits.

"Hm?"

"Do you have any idea what Kenny has been doing recently?"

The Amazon froze for a second. "What do you mean?" She asked carefully, inspecting her helmet's locking mechanism.

"Well, he just seems to disappear all the time as of late." Mike wondered aloud. "There are days where I barely even see him. I thought he might be going sweet on the doctor's assistant but apparently she spends most of her time in the ruins."

"You've been asking around?" Kelly asked a little more vehemently that she'd intended to. "Don't you have better things to do?"

"Not really." Mike smirked as he put his helmet on and engaged the suit's power systems. Several soft clicks indicated that the armour was sealed and locked. "I'm just curious all right? I mean if he's found himself a girl I ain't gona poke around trying to find out about the salacious details."

"How noble of you." Kelly snorted sarcastically as she stood up. "Let's go."

* * *

"Morning sleepyhead." Those words were the first thing Ashley perceived as consciousness slowly came back after a deep and dreamless sleep. The maiden found her lover beaming down on her as she opened her eyes. Sunlight shone through a curtain of copper hair but Ashley didn't have the time to enjoy the sight, for Rose leaned in to kiss her immediately.

"Geez, Rosie." The Asari said as she gasped for air afterwards, affectionately stroking the ginger's silken hair. "At least let me wake up properly before you assault me like that."

The human giggled softly and snuggled up to the maiden. "How are you feeling, _darling._" She asked. The way she emphasized the last word made Ashley laugh. She'd almost sounded like an actor in one of these ancient human black-and-white vids.

"I think I'm experiencing some after effects of the melding." She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"After effects?" Rose raised her head. "What after effects?"

Ashley smiled lazily at the redhead's expression of concern. "Oh nothing bad, don't worry Rosie. I'm just a little more tired than usual."

"That was one hell of a night, wasn't it Ash?" The human said, planting a series kisses on the maiden's jawline.

"Hell of a night." Ashley agreed with a purr, enjoying her partner's display of affection. "What time is it anyway?" She wondered and tried to take a look at the clock but trapped by Rose's graceful limbs she couldn't turn her head far enough.

The redhead reluctantly, albeit grinning at her lover's predicament, checked the time. "It's just before ten." Her embrace tightened when the maiden made a move to get up. "Nu-uh. You stay right here, my precious."

"Oh come on." Ashley snickered softly and made a token attempt to disentangle herself from the ginger. "Professor Morton is going to be so disappointed if you miss his lectures two days in a row." She said, referring to the university's authority in computer design.

Rose laughed loudly. "Ol' goat is going to have to bear it. If I barge into the auditorium mid lecture he'll probably try to be funny and I'd rather not be brought up on war crimes charges, thank you very much."

After the laughter had slowly quieted down, neither of the young women said anything for a while. They just enjoyed the moment, lovingly caressing one another and sharing a kiss or two. Only when Ashley's rumbling stomach broke the silence did the females finally get their shapely butts in gear.

"Well, we better get some breakfast." Rose smirked as she sat up and stretched thoroughly.

"Yep." The Asari yawned once more. "I Don't know about you but somehow the canteen grub doesn't particularly appeal to me today. How about we take the maglev to the city and find ourselves a nice café?"

"Hmm, yeah." Rose's face lit up as she thought about it. "Great idea, Ash." She said, giving the maiden an almost dreamy look. "Decent coffee instead of that sludge they serve in the cafeteria, crispy croissants..."

"Exactly." Ashley beamed. "A special breakfast for a very special morning."

"Indeed." The redhead's eyes glittered playfully. "We'll have to be mindful of the time though, lest we miss the afternoon classes as well."

"What a horrible thought." The maiden giggled as she stood up. "Anyway I need a shower now."

"Yeah me too." Rose grinned wantonly as she put an arm around the Asari's midriff. "Isn't that a nice coincidence?"

"No melding at the moment, Rosie. I need to recover, okay? " Ashley said quickly. "But..." She added when she saw the disappointment on the Human's face. "...I'm sure we'll find a way to have fun regardless." The maiden winked at her copper haired lover and took off the lingerie, beckoning the other girl to follow with a seductive glance over her shoulder.

* * *

Things normalised somewhat during the next couple of days although Ashley, for some weird reason, found it harder to find time to study. Also, she mused grinning as she typed in a command on her data pad, she spent more time in Rose's room than in her own as of late. The young women hadn't said anything about their relationship to anybody but their friends had know instantly. They'd been teasing them mercilessly during the last couple of days. The maiden shrugged, with a dreamy smile. '_Let them have their fun.'_ She thought. She was fairly certain that the Rose and herself had way more of that in private together.

It wasn't easy but the managed to put those thoughts aside as she sat down at her small desk and began to study. Absently fiddling around with the old-fashioned ballpen, a present from her father, her eyes darted over the data pad screen. From time to time she scribbled some notes on a pad. For some reason she memorized things better if she wrote them down on a piece of paper, rather than typing it into a computer. The young Asari flinched when she felt two hands gently touch her shoulders. She'd been so in the zone that she hadn't heard Rose enter the room.

Surprisingly enough the redhead didn't immediately go for Ashley's sensitive parts, like she usually did when she managed to surprise her, instead she sat down on the bed.

"Well, you're in a good mood." Ashley cocked her head to one side as looked at her girlfriend. The ginger seemed to be barely able to sit still she was so giddy with excitement. During the last couple of days both of them had been walking around with a perpetual glow that came from being newly in love. This however seemed to be about something different. "What's up, Rosie? You had too much coffee or something?"

The Human girl didn't even seem to notice Ahley's attempt at being funny. "Ash!" She beamed. "You wanna see an AI?"

At first the maiden thought Rose was making a joke. Her mouth fell open when she realised that the ginger was being completely serious. "What?"

* * *

Cyra enjoyed the quiet as she lounged on her bed, especially since she knew that it wasn't going to last for much longer. Ever since the council had decided not to pull the plug on the AI, traffic in the system had increased quite a bit. Just a few days ago an engineering team had arrived with the order to put a handrail on the narrow bridge leading to the AI. The first batch of scientists were due to arrive sometime today as well. Yes the base was bound to become a lot busier in the weeks and months to come and the maiden didn't even want to imagine what was going on in the council chambers and the various embassies on the citadel. She was just glad she didn't have to take part in any of the usual political charades. Not yet anyway. As the leader of the security detail she may have a part to play in the citadel power plays after all. Cyra shrugged. She'd concern herself with that if the time came. Not before.

She smirked as she picked up the data pad beside her and continued reading. Some of her sisters would probably call her girlish for reading a romantic novel. The tomboyish Hannah, the youngest of the Shepards, most certainly would. Ah well. Her taste of literature was nothing she could brag with at a sophisticated cocktail party or anything of the sort. It never had been. As a matter of fact, until she'd enlisted the young Asari had barely read for recreational purposes at all. And now that she did she preferred the easy, harmless stuff, at this time at least. Of tragedy, strife and bloodshed she'd seen plenty in her real life already. She didn't need that in her entertainment as well.

After a few moment's of unsuccessfully trying to focus on the text, Cyra put the pad back down and rested her head on the pillow. Thinking of her little sister always made her smile. Hannah had been a wild child, pretty much from day one. A constant cause of concern for her parents, and sometimes her older siblings, from the moment she could walk. Being the eldest of the bunch it had of course always fallen to Cyra to watch over the little bundle of energy when their parents had been away. It had sometimes been quite stressful but things certainly had never been boring with Hannah around.

The maiden's smile widened. As she'd gotten older, the youngest Shepard had developed a keen interest in space flight, possibly spurred on by her favourite Human 'uncle', Admiral Moreau. Just before Cyra had left for the alliance military academy, Hannah had announced her plans to become the first Asari Admiral in the alliance fleet. "I may even end up having to salute before that little rascal." Cyra whispered with a smile.

The maiden sat up on her bed. Thinking of Hannah she realised that she hadn't called home for way too long. Last she'd heard her youngest sister had been mad because their parents didn't want to let her go to the academy just yet. She went over to the room's computer terminal but before she could sit down at the small desk, the gunnery Chief called her over the base intercom.

"Yes, Chief?" Cyra said, suppressing a sigh. "What is it?"

"Sorry to disturb you, sir." Came the reply. "But I thought you'd like to know that the first group of scientists is inbound. They should touch down in about ten minutes."

The maiden pondered briefly. "Okay, I'll go and welcome them to this wonderful little world." She said with a little bit of sarcasm. "Please notify doctor Gordon, in case he wants to join me."

With a curt 'aye sir' the NCO terminated the connection. Cyra sullenly rubbed her eyes and buttoned her shirt. She didn't particularly feel like going to the airlock and playing the good little soldier at the moment. Fortunately she didn't have to deal with them once they'd settled in. The doctor however would have to and judging by the talks they'd had in the past he, to put it mildly, didn't exactly look forward to young Asari wondered if he'd be at the main airlock to greet the science team. She certainly wasn't going to blame him if he didn't.

Cyra briefly checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror. _'After all we don't want those big shot scientists to get a bad impression of the alliance marine corps, do we?' _She thought with an ironic smirk as she exited her cabin, heading for the airlock.

"Doctor?" The maiden was more than surprised to find Gordon waiting. "Didn't expect to find you here already."

"I was on my way over when your Chief called anyway." The researcher explained with a dismissive gesture. "Figured I may as well give my fellow scholars a clammy handshake."

"I see." Cyra had to suppress a grin, seeing the sour look on his face. The citadel team, the scientific part of which had left a while ago, hadn't treated him very well. Or any of his people for that matter. Apparently some scientists considered archaeologists to be a 'lower' form of researcher. The maiden's face darkened as she thought about it.

"It's still your dig, doc." She said in the vain hope to cheer him up a bit. "That's not going to change."

"Yeah sure." He said sarcastically. "Except no one gives a shit, 'cause the part that really matters is now out of my hands. Other than Lien and myself none of my team is even allowed to go down there, for crying out loud, and that's only because Charlie asked to see the both of us."

"What? Who's Charlie?" Cyra lowered her head and gave Gordon a curious look.

"Oh, that's what we call the AI now." The scientist said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards slightly. "Lien started calling him...it like that."

"Really? That seems to be a bit of a weird name for an AI." The maiden said. At the same time she wondered what a proper name for one would be. She came up blank.

"Well he, I mean _it_, seems to like it." Gordon shrugged. "So we figured it was as good a name as any."

"Speaking of names..." Cyra tilted her head to the side as something occurred to her. "You know I still don't know your first name and it kinda feels weird to keep addressing you as 'doctor' all the time." She eyed him expectantly.

The doctor looked at her with an unreadable expression. "It's Alexander." He said. "Call me Alex, please."

"Cyra" The maiden's smile was of a somewhat roguish quality as she shook the extended hand. "Pleased to meet you."

The researcher blinked for a second then bowed slightly and brushed the back of the Asari's hand with his lips. "Enchanté."

"Alex, what is this?" Cyra couldn't help but giggle.

"Hm?" He seemed to be distracted for a moment, gently caressing her hand with his thumb.

"The kiss on the back of my hand." The maiden inquired. "You did that once before. Is it a human custom my dad neglected to tell me about?"

"Oh umm..." His face reddened. "No, not really. Not anymore. It's basically an ancient convention from the days before my kind possessed advanced technology." He let go of her limb and took a small step back. "But as one of your men pointed out a while ago, I'm a bit old-fashioned. Sometimes I embarrass myself."

"What? No no." Cyra's face flushed to a darker shade of purple. She suddenly felt awful that she'd chuckled. "No it felt nice...I mean, I didn't mind at all..."

The whoosh of a spacecraft landing on the pad outside saved her from having to find a way out of this awkward situation. She looked out the window, watching about a dozen figures disembark from the small ship as her blood pressure normalised. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alex step up beside her. The sour look on his face was back, the maiden noticed as she glanced over quickly.

"Maybe they're nice." She said as she watched the scientists unload their gear and personal effects.

"Yeah maybe." He snorted. "And maybe all dolphins are going to vanish tomorrow, heralding the end of the world." The Archaeologists smiled thinly as Cyra threw him an inquisitive look. "Don't ask."

"Alex?" She said as the people outside made their way the airlock. "Why were you coming over anyway?"

"Hm?"

"You said earlier that you were already on coming here."

"Oh yeah." Alex cleared his throat noisily. "I wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Nothing important." He intently watched the scientists enter the airlock. "It can wait."

With thinly veiled curiosity the maiden, eyed the new arrivals as they exited the airlock one by one. From what she could see behind the visors there were members of every major species in citadel space among that first batch of scientists. Even, if she wasn't mistaken, a female Krogan. She waited until they'd gotten all their gear out of the small chamber until she moved over to welcome the researchers but before she could get a word out a surprised yelp came from within the small group.

"Sis!?" Apparently the scientists were just as baffled as Cyra was as one of their own tore her helmet off and bolted toward the Asari Lieutenant. "What are you doing here!?"

"Ashley!?" The older maiden felt as if her jaw was dangling around about on the level of her knees as her sister ran up for a hug. "What..." She interrupted herself immediately as she felt it would be silly to just repeat the other Asari's question. She instead patted her sister on the back as she returned the hug. "That's swell to see you here." She gently shook the smaller maiden. "But shouldn't you sit in some dusty lecture hall right now?"

"Nope." As Ashley took a step back, Cyra noticed a young and gorgeous, red haired Human female timidly walk up to them. "We're on..." She contemplated for a moment. "I guess you could almost say we're on vacation."

"We?" Cyra's eyes darted over to the redhead.

"Ah yes." The younger Asari put an arm around the Human girl's waist. "Rosie, meet my big bad sister Cyra."

"Hi, I'm Rose." Still in a state of mild shock, Cyra mechanically shook the ginger's hand as an elderly Human male stepped out of the group.

"Excuse me...umm Lieutenant Shepard, is it? I'm Professor Morton." The grey haired man said with the barest hint of a smile. "I'm afraid, some of us are not so young anymore." He gestured towards his fellow scientists. "The flight was quite exhausting. Would you mind directing us to our quarters so we can take a rest?"

"Oh, of course, forgive me." Cyra tore her eyes away from her sister and the redhead and gave the small group a curt welcome. "I'm afraid your quarters are over at the scientist camp however." She said, proceeding to introduce doctor Gordon who, the maiden noticed with mild amusement, made every effort to not look sullen. A few disgruntled snorts and moans came from the group of scientists as they heard it was a short walk to their temporary homes. Morton remained unruffled as Alex put his helmet on and, after a throwing Cyra a quick, stressed out look, went over to his fellow scholars telling them to follow him.

"Professor?" Ashley asked quickly as the elder Human started to turn around. "Will you be needing us right now? We haven't seen each other in person for a while and I'd like to catch up with my big sis if you don't mind." She looked at Cyra. "If you got the time that is."

"I've got nothing urgent going on at the moment."

The grey haired man thoughtfully scratched his chin. "I should be fine." He shook his head. "Professor Cordalis can help me with our gear." Morton said with a nod towards a middle aged human male, who stared at the multiple bags with a horrified expression.

"I'll help you with your stuff, pup." The female Krogan's chuckle sounded like rolling thunder as Cordalis started to protest. She gave the human scientist what was probably meant to be a playful smack on his back but the man got thrown forward half a step. He did his best to ignore the snickers that erupted on his expense and threw an angry look at Morton's back as the older man picked up one of the bags.

Cyra watched the commotion subsiding as the scientists left the room one after another. "Well." She turned to the other young women not quite sure how to proceed. "Are you girls hungry?" She asked. "Our cook makes pretty good sandwiches."

"Now that you mention it." Ashley replied, still grinning about one of her professors getting knocked around the place. "I could actually use something to eat. What about you Rosie?"

"Won't say no." The redhead said absently rubbing her stomach. "I _am _a little peckish."

"Let's go then." Cyra smiled. As they were walking through the grey corridors she noticed that Rose and Ashley were holding hands. Suddenly she remembered where she heard the name of the Human before. "Oh you're _that_ Rose?" The words came out before it occurred to her that this might be a wee bit embarrassing to the ginger. "Ash's partner on that adult site?"

Rose blushed and quickly looked around. She wasn't ashamed of what she did to pay the bills while she was studying at the uni. After all she wasn't prostituting herself. But that didn't mean she wanted everybody to know.

"Not so loud, damn it!" Ashley hissed casting glances up and down the corridor. Luckily there was nobody in sight who could have heard.

_'Aaand put your foot right in it. Nice job Cyra. Well done.' _The purple skinned Asari sighed inwardly. "I'm sorry...Rose." She said aloud. "Didn't mean to make a public announcement. Sometimes I can be a bit of an oaf, I'm afraid."

"Aren't we all every once in a while?" The redhead grinned, showing that she didn't take it badly. "So you're the one that shouted at Ashley for appearing on a webcam...hmm...scantily dressed a while ago?"

"Aye." Cyra smiled ruefully. "Not my finest hour, I got to admit."

"Hey wait a moment." Ashley's eyes widened considerably. "Does that mean that those guys, you knocked the stuffing out of, are here?"

"That they are." The older maiden said slowly. She hadn't thought of that before and wondered if that was going to be a problem.

"Hey, I have fans here." Ashley playfully elbowed her girlfriend. Judging by the look on her face she didn't quite know what to make of this however.

"Oh, they will behave themselves." Cyra smiled darkly as she saw her sibling uneasily chew her lower lip. "Don't you worry about that." She patted Ashley on the shoulder. "Come on let's get going."

"By the way, didn't you tell me the two of you weren't together?" Cyra asked as they resumed walking through the narrow walkways.

"Now we are." Ashley smiled, possessively putting an arm around Rose's waist.

"Congratulations."

"Congratulations?" Both the blue skinned Asari and the copper haired Human sniggered merrily. "Thank you, sis." Ashley grinned. "But we're not bonding or marrying just yet." The younger maiden's smile faded a little as she wondered if she should ask about Cyra's love life. She still vividly remembered her eldest sister's reaction when she'd teased her about it a month or two ago. Therefore she decided to keep her mouth shut. For the time being anyway.

Both of the newly arrived women were pleasantly surprised to learn that the sandwiches in the mess actually _were_ tasty. "Hey, that stuff really _is _edible." Ashley announced after she'd swallowed down her first bite. Rose nodded in agreement, chewing her first mouthful with gusto.

"Told ya." Cyra said sipping on a glass of water. "Some of the archaeologists from the science camp eat here regularly. Apparently our food is better than the ready-to-eat stuff they got over there. Our cook even had to request additional supplies."

"Well, ready-to-eat meals usually _are_ crap." Rose said and took another bite from her sandwich.

"So I keep hearing." Cyra chuckled and looked the Human girl up a little more closely. "You two can of course eat here whenever you want."

"Hey thanks, big sis." The younger maiden said. "I'll take you up on that."

"So, anyway." Cyra leaned back in her plastic chair. "What are you girls doing here? It was my understanding that the existence of 'our'AI wasn't public knowledge yet."

"Oh, it isn't." Ashley grinned broadly. "I'm pretty sure professor Morton wasn't supposed to tell us about it, let alone bring us along but the old chap doesn't seem to give a shit."

"Yeah, he declared us his assistants. Just like that." Rose snapped her finger in amusement. "He literally said if the council didn't like it they could kiss his scrawny old butt."

"His exact words." Ashley confirmed with a soft giggle.

"Sounds like a nice guy." Cyra said dryly.

"He's not too bad. He's got a bit an arrogant streak about him sometimes, but I guess that comes from being _the _galaxy's leading expert in a certain field of research." The redhead shrugged. She'd seemed to be quite shy at first but was now unbending, the older Asari noticed. "He's got weird sense of humour too and, well, I'm fairly certain there were better qualified people for the job. As in graduates."

"Yeah but probably not quite pretty enough." The blue skinned maiden's giggle became more of a sneer. "But whatever the case we're here. Sort of an internship for us I guess."

"Well, I won't complain." Cyra smiled as she took another sip of water. "Any idea how long you're going to stay?"

"Not really." Ashley could only shake her head cluelessly. "A few weeks, I suppose. Maybe a month or two. Don't think we can stay away from the uni much longer than that."

"Okay." Cyra watched the other women munch their sandwiches. "Anyway, have you called home lately?" She asked changing the subject.

"Yeah a couple of days ago." The younger maiden replied putting her sandwich down. "The day before we departed from the uni in fact."

"Any news?" Cyra inquired. "We had a communications black out here." She explained although that was only partially true but she didn't want to admit she'd simply forgotten to call their parents.

"Not a whole lot." Ashley grinned. "Dad was his overprotective self again. It was a wonder that he didn't tell me to bring extra socks when I told him about the trip."

"Ah yes, our dear daddy." The older Asari smiled, lost in thought for a second. "Is Hannah still pissed?"

"Because they don't want to let her go to the academy yet?" Ashley forgot her upbringing for a moment, speaking with her mouth full. "Of course. I mean if it was up to her she'd be commanding a starship by now. " She swallowed, an amused glimmer in her eyes. "She'll get over it. Our little Admiral-to-be."

The Shepard sisters shared a laugh, then apologized to the Human girl, explaining the joke. Rose did feel a little bit left out when the two Asari proceeded to talk about some family anecdotes but she didn't mind. On the contrary. She found the stories the maidens told highly fascinating, not because they were so unusual but because the were so _normal._ Apart from a few incidents related to biotics and fame, everything else they spoke about could have happened in pretty much any family. In fact you only had to swap out some of the names and places and the little tales matched some occurrences of her own childhood. The maidens laughed again when she expressed her amazement about that.

"What did you think, Rosie?" Ashley lovingly caressed the ginger's forearm and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "That we used to wrestle with five Krogans before breakfast every day or something?"

"No, nothing of the sort." Rose smiled. "To be honest I didn't think about that at all. I guess I just unwittingly assumed that your childhoods were more...unusual?"

"Oh we did get to...experience a few things 'ordinary' people don't." Cyra said. "But frankly most of it I could have done without."

"Example?"

"Well, we got to celebrate the 'Victory over the Reapers' day with the Council and all those high profile diplomats and government officials, for instance." The purple skinned Asari absently rubbed the back of her neck. "Wanna tell Rose how much we used to like that, Ash?"

"Oh so veeery much." Ashley rolled her eyes excessively. "Those days were the worst."

"Do tell?" Rose grinned, batting her eyelashes at her beloved, obviously wanting to know more.

"It was boring as shit, Rosie." The younger maiden said. "I mean the whole day was basically an endless succession of shaking hands, claws, tentacles or doing whatever else the various species do to greet one another. And then in the evening it was just speech after speech after speech, one more dull than the next."

"Yep." Cyra nodded, snickering softly. "Ah those days of joy and happiness on the citadel..." She let the sentence hang in the air.

"Indeed." Ashley showed her teeth. "Really I have no idea why mum and dad insisted to bring us along every year. I mean, all us girls did was bitch and groan for days before and afterwards."

"Sounds like when my mother took me to a museum as a child." Rose remarked, wiping her hands clean with a paper napkin after she'd finished her sandwich. "I didn't complain though but I walked around with a face as long as a fiddle. That's what mum later said anyway."

"Oh parents." Ashley said with feigned sincerity. "Only wanting their children's best."

The young women giggled softly and shared some additional episodes of their early lives with one another. It was Ashley who eventually changed the subject.

"Anyway, tell me, sis." She asked, with an air of excitement about her. "Have you seen the AI?"

"Umm. Yeah I guess." Cyra said slowly. "There wasn't a whole lot to _see_ really. Just a more or less empty room that suddenly began to talk."

"Must have been quite the surprise." Rose remarked, looking at the older maiden curiously.

"It was kinda creepy, actually." Cyra said and told what little there was to say about her encounter the ancient, artificial life form. "Look." She added when she saw that her statements didn't satisfy the other females' thirst for knowledge. "I'm the wrong one to ask about this thing down in those ruins. Doctor Gordon and his assistant spent way more time with the AI than me. Hell, they even gave it a name."

"Really?"

"Yep, they're calling it Charlie."

"Seriously?" Rose and Ashley simultaneously laughed out loud.

"Oh, speaking of the devil..." Cyra murmured when she saw Alex enter the room, obviously looking for something. She waved the archaeologist over. He sat down with a groan after he'd been introduced to the young students. Apparently the first contact with the newly arrived scientists had done little to improve his mood.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, ladies." He said, making a face. "But your professor could use some tutoring in common bloody courtesy."

Rose and Ashley exchanged a glance. "Which one?" The ginger wanted to know. "Morton or Cordalis."

"Cordalis. That guy tried to boss me around as if I was his servant. I mean..." The doctor let his voice trail off. He didn't want to spout out profanities in front of the young women.

"Don't take it personal, doctor..."

"Alex." Gordon cut in. "Please call me Alex."

"Sure." Ashley smiled. "Anyway...Alex...as I said, don't take it personal. From what I hear, him and Morton never particularly liked each other and the trip here wasn't very pleasant either."

"It really wasn't." Rose chimed in. "Professor Morton basically treated Cordalis like just another assistant and the guy is supposed to be one of the galaxy's leading experts in VI design."

"Yeah, sorry, doc...Alex...I guess he took it out on you." Ashley said apologetically.

"Oh you certainly don't have to apologize for anything." The archaeologist waved his right hand dismissively. "Not like any of it is your fault." He paused momentarily. "But whatever the case, your professor Morton said he needed your help with some of his equipment."

Rose frowned. "Why didn't he just call?"

"Well, I'm just an archaeologist." Alex snorted sarcastically. "I surely have nothing better to do, right?"

Figuring it was probably better not to say anything to that, Ashley rose instead. "Well then." She said and picked up the gloves of her environment suit. "We better get going." She smiled impishly. "Wouldn't want to keep the professor waiting."

The others stood up as well. "I'll walk you to the airlock." Cyra said then turned to the doctor. "By the way, do you need something from me, Alex?"

"Not at the moment, no." He shook his head. "Just playing the carrier pigeon."

"Later Sis." Ashley said as she entered the airlock. None of the small group noticed the two marines who'd frozen upon entering the room.

"So that's why the LT got so pissed." One of them muttered after the airlock doors had closed, not even realising he'd said it out loud.

The 'LT' unfortunately did hear it and turned around before the marines could skulk off.

"Of course it had to be the two of you." Cyra sighed. "Well then gentlemen, get your butts into my office."

"Sir, we..."

"That means, right now!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

So that was it for the time being.

Until the next chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

Here goes the next part ladies and gents.

* * *

"How do you know about 'Hitchhiker's'?" Ashley asked in astonishment.

"Miss Chen was kind enough to provide me with a sample library of your entertainment." The AI said with that smooth, but inexplicably slightly alien sounding voice. "I believe most of it came from doctor Gordon's private collection."

"I see." Said the maiden.

"If I may ask, how do you know about this novel, miss Shepard?" Charlie asked curiously. "If I understood Lien correctly it is very old and not widely known any more."

"Oh, my dad fancies himself a bit of a connoisseur of literature." Ashley said. "So I got to read a lot, both new and old stuff." Finished with the scan of this section of the AI's support systems closed the access port and an moved over to the next one. "At any rate." She said with a grin. "If somebody asks you about life, the universe and everything, you know what to say now."

"Indeed I do, miss Shepard." Charlie chuckled. "Ah, it's nice to interact with individuals, possessing a sense of humour."

"Your creator race didn't have any?" The young Asari inquired.

"The ones that used to work here didn't, no." The sentient machine replied. "I can't make a reliable assertion on the entire species based on a few select individuals however."

"Of course not." Ashley wiped the sweat off her forehead. It was quite hot down in the bowels of the AI's systems. Adjustments to the environmental systems made the atmosphere breathable but the maiden still considered resealing her suit because of the heat. She shook her head and went back to work. Ashley hated wearing gloves. She'd have to remember to bring a bottle of water with here next time. The maiden softly sighed in disappointment as she finished the scan of this section. It was pretty much the same as the section before. And the one before that. And so on. In fact she'd seen the same exact configuration of circuits all morning.

"Come on." Ashley whispered, making a face. "There has to be more down here than one fucking, malfunctioning memory bank after the other."

"What was that?" The AI asked.

"Nothing, don't mind me, Charlie." She said, mildly frustrated. Most of the scientist were a couple of stories above her, probably having enlightening discussions with the AI or amongst themselves, while she was crawling around down here. Ah well, one of these days she'd be a professor and then she'd have some pretty assistants of her own to boss around. The thought made the young Asari smirk as she ducked to avoid a metal crossbeam. There was another ladder leading further into the structure. Ashley checked the time. She'd been creeping around down here long enough, had gathered plenty of data for the day. She'd go and have a quick look what was down that ladder and then she'd go back to the camp where Rosie was analysing the data from the day before.

The maiden was surprised to find only a bland, manual door at the bottom of the ladder. _'Well'_ ,she thought, _'It's something new at least.' _Its hinges were jammed and Ashley had to force it open, having to muster all her strength to do so.

"Okaaaayyy..." She mumbled to herself. The small room was empty, except for a pedestal in the middle. Mounted on top of it was a pitch-black rectangular object, roughly the size of her forearm.

She moved a little closer and cautiously reached for it. "OW!" Ashley yelped and hastily pulled back her hand. She'd gotten an electric shock just before her fingers had touched the smooth, featureless surface.

"Charlie what is this thing?" The maiden asked, shaking her tingling hand. No answer. "Charlie?" She fired up her omni-tool and started scanning once more, quickly realising there were no audio receptors or speakers installed anywhere nearby. The black object was surrounded by a weak forcefield that was most likely just there to prevent any tampering. It didn't block the omni-tool sensors at least. Ashley's eyes widened in surprise as she studied the results of the first sweep.

"What the heck..." She muttered. The alien computer technology the scientists had found in here was very different from what was used in the galaxy today. Processing and storage of information was done in artificially made crystals with a complex internal structure. As to how it worked exactly no one was sure yet. The science team, with the AI's permission, had removed some of the malfunctioning units to analyse it in their lab topside.

The small, black monolith in this room was another matter entirely. The underlying technology seemed to be similar but vastly more advanced. Even the structure of the surface - Ashley's scans couldn't penetrate the unknown material - was so complex that her omni-tool was completely overwhelmed and produced an error message.

"Right." After a quarter of an hour of trying, the young Asari gave up her efforts. She had a pretty good idea what she'd found here but to attempt to approach it from a scientific angle was useless right now. She'd have to drag her professors down here and let them have a look but she had a feeling they were going to be just as helpless as her. Lost in thought the maiden climbed up the ladder and made her way to the nearest microphone.

"Charlie?"

"Yes, miss Shepard?" The AI asked instantly.

"I've found something in here." Said Ashley, her eyes narrowing a little. "Some kind of a black, rectangular crystal mounted on a pedestal. You wouldn't happen to know what that is would you?"

There was a very long pause and the maiden was about to repeat the question when Charlie finally answered. "That." It said calmly. "Would be me."

* * *

There was a kind of a nervous energy in the improvised conference room, Cyra noticed as she entered. She looked around briefly then moved over to doctor Gordon who was waiting in a corner while several scientist were fumbling around with a holoprojector.

"Morning Cyra." Gordon said softly as he noticed her approaching.

"Hey Alex." The maiden replied in an equally low voice. "What's this big whoop about?"

"You haven't heard?" He seemed genuinely surprised when the maiden shook her head. "Apparently your little sister has made quite the discovery down in the ruins a couple of days ago."

"That she's found Charlie's central core? I know that." Cyra smirked making a sweeping gesture. "I'm wondering what _this_ is about."

"They didn't tell you?" Alex's eyebrows shot up. "Apparently this is the big day." He said in a mock conspiratorial tone of voice. "Our friends." He nodded in the general direction of the other scientists. "Will present _their_ discovery to the citadel council."

"Ah okay." Cyra looked around curiously. "Where is Ashley then?"

"Oh she's not here." Alex's eyes glittered angrily as he nodded towards the Human professors. "The gentlemen are about to brief the council about their findings and we can't have a mere assistant take credit for any of it can we?"

"I see." The maiden wrinkled her nose. She'd never understood those petty squabbles as to who got to be a side note in a history book. Cyra shrugged indifferently. Should 'the gentlemen' argue that out between themselves. It wasn't her business. She just hoped that Ashley wasn't too upset about it. "Wonder why they want me around then." The young Asari mumbled more to herself than to Alex.

"We're probably representing the 'support team'." Gordon snorted under his breath. "You know, someone you can point to to make yourself look good. As in, 'I'd like to thank the local specialist for their hospitality and their cooperation...', that kind of blah blah."

"Could be." Cyra unintentionally smirked. She didn't know about Alex but it certainly wouldn't be the first time somebody tried to adorn him- or herself with a Shepard. It wasn't going to be the last time either.

The room quieted down as everybody, except for Cyra, Alex and professor Morton, took a seat around the projector as the connection to the citadel was established. The elderly Human took it upon himself to greet the council as their holographic images appeared one by one. He briefly introduced the members of his team then switched on a second projector and began the presentation.

* * *

Rose broke the lip lock with her Asari lover and moaned loudly as the first wave of her umpteenth orgasm washed over her. Ashley pulled her fingers out of the redhead's vagina, running her wet hand gently through the thin pubic hair before terminating the connection of their minds.

"Enough for now." The maiden panted heavily. Her legs trembled slightly as she stood up and went over to the container's small fridge as Rose tried to catch her breath. "Want something to drink, Rosie?"

"Oh, yes, please!" The ginger croaked as she sat up and tied her sweaty hair back, putting it in a ponytail. Both the young females had been frustrated that they hadn't been allowed to attend the holo-conference with the council. They had hoped to see their professors talk to the council. After all the two of them had done most of the legwork, crawling around in the underbelly of the alien installation. But no, apparently the political implications of the matter were too sensitive for them the know anything about. At least that's what the young women had been told.

Ashley took two small and delightfully cold bottles of water out of the fridge. She tossed Rose one of them and gently pressed the other against her forehead to cool off a little. The maiden smirked as she saw the redhead greedily gulping down the liquid. They had found a suitable way to alleviate their frustration. A quite exhausting way, certainly, but so very satisfying.

"You know." The maiden said as she casually ambled over to the bed. "I wonder who's giving the speech to the council."

"Morton most likely." Rose shrugged. "He's been playing the schoolmaster from day one after all. I doubt he's going to hand over the reigns now of all times."

"Yeah, probably not." Ashley agreed, gently pulling the ginger closer to give her a quick kiss on the mouth. "You know, all things considered I actually don't mind being excluded from that too much anymore. I'd say sex beats listening to another one of his lectures quite soundly."

"You got that right, hon." Rose grinned lecherously. The redhead's eyebrows rose a little when something sprang to her mind. "Hey, speaking of which, whatever happened to 'embrace eternity'?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, Asari are supposed to say that before initiating a meld." The Human girl said, curiously eyeing her beloved. "But you never do."

"Oh that?" Ashley broke out in a hearty laugh. "Yeah we do that more often in the vids than in real life."

"Truly?"

"Yup, at least that's what mum always said." The maiden giggled merrily. "She used to get in a stew over that whenever she heard or read about it." She pondered for a few moments. "I guess some of my people might say it but to me it always sounded awfully pretentious."

"Oh come on." Rose smirked playfully. "A meld _is_ an awesome experience."

"Sure it is!" The young Asari exclaimed. "But 'embrace eternity'? I mean seriously, that's more than a little hyperbolic."

The ginger chuckled softly and lay down pulling the maiden with her. She gently caressed Ashley's belly with one hand. "Geez, imagine if we had to sit around over there right now and pay attention to another of ol' goat's discourses."

"Horrible, horrible thought."

* * *

"Bottom line, professor Morton." Cyra had to turn her head away and hide her amusement behind her hand. The scientist was obviously quite prone to verbosity and even the Asari councillor seemed to gradually lose her patience now. "What is this thing capable of?"

"Madam Councillor, I'm afraid we didn't have enough time to study..."

The holographic figure raised her hand. "Yes I know we can't expect definitive answers after a week." The Asari barked testily. "We've been over this not five minutes ago remember? But you have an opinion on the matter. I can see that. Let's hear it."

The old human seemed to be a bit ruffled by the interruption but he pulled himself together and took a deep breath. "All right fine. My somewhat unscientific opinion is that this..." He pointed at the projection of the small black monolith. "...is the most sophisticated and advanced piece of technology I've ever seen or heard of."

"Interesting." The Asari councillor said when Morton let his voice trail off. "Continue please."

"As I said the material this object is made out of is completely alien to us. Whoever made it must have been able to manipulate matter on a sub-atomic level far beyond what we can do. Our scanners can't penetrate the crystal but we've caught a few glimpses of activity on the surface and if those are representative for what is going on inside and considering the unbelievable complexity of the structure we see on the outside, this thing makes everything we have look like a slide rule. Hell, even a Reaper AI would seem like a cheap calculator by comparison."

The words hung heavy in the air before Morton backed down a little. "But maybe I'm just a silly old man getting carried away by his excitement and it really isn't such a big deal. Not all of us in here share the same opinion and I can't really be expected to give a reliable assessment of a system none of us understand a this point."

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before the Asari councillor spoke again. "Let's assume for a moment that you're right and this AI is really as advanced as you think. How would you recommend we proceed?"

"Well obviously to study it further." Morton said instantly. "It may take decades to even partially understand this technology but the potential benefits of further research in the subject can't be ignored."

"And what would the risks be?" The Turian councillor chimed in.

"I don't see a risk in further studies, as long as we keep the AI away from any of our important networks." The professor said matter-of-factly. "As advanced as it may be it still can't influence the real world directly."

"And the consequences if it _did_ get access to, say, the extranet?"

"Impossible to say for certain." The old scientist said. "It only needed seconds to interpret our data structure though. I think it's safe to assume that it could muscle through any firewall, would simply brush away our gatekeeper VIs or any other security measure we can come up with at this time. Whether or not it would actually try to interfere with our systems...I truly cannot say. Up to this point it has never showed any kind of malicious intentions but that may just be because it doesn't have the means to do us harm."

"I see." The Asari councillor said slowly. The connection was muted for several minutes as the politicians discusses amongst themselves. Cyra uneasily stepped from one foot to the other. The revelation that Charlie was possibly made of more advanced technology than even the Reapers had possessed was somewhat disconcerting. She peeked over to the archaeologist beside her. By the looks of it he seemed to share the maiden's worries.

"Thank you for your assessment doctor." The holographic Asari suddenly said as the audio was restored. "We have just one more question for now."

"Yes, madam councillor?"

"Your preliminary report contains some limited information about the builders of the subterranean structure." The matriarch said. "However a few minutes ago you used the wording 'whoever made it'. Are you saying the AI was made by somebody else?"

Momentarily lost in thought professor Morton chewed his lower lip before he answered. "I suspect so, yes."

"Explain please."

"Madam councillor, there is no sign of this level of technology..." The old Human pointed at the projected black crystal once more. "...to be found anywhere else in the structure. The processors and data storage devices we've been able to examine so far, while still impressive by our standards, are not nearly as advanced and look like cheap, reverse engineered imitations of the AI's core. In fact looking at our early data about the system architecture, I'd say the most likely purpose of this facility was to try to unlock more of its secrets."

"Then how come the AI claimed that the builders of this place and its creators were one and the same? Are you saying it lied to you?"

"It's possible. It certainly is familiar with the concept. However it's also entirely possible that it simply doesn't know better. " Morton didn't seem to be very comfortable, having to speculate all the time. "The information could have been purposefully deleted, could have deteriorated over time. We could also be wrong and the AI is the result of several game changing breakthroughs the 'builders' made. Or yes, it could have lied to us for whatever reason."

"I see." The holographic figures looked at one another briefly. "We'll have to discuss this matter further." The Asari said. "You may continue your studies for now. I don't have to tell you that everything regarding this conference in general or the AI in particular is to be kept strictly confidential, do I?"

"No, madam councillor."

"We'll be in touch." The matriarch said brusquely and terminated the connection without waiting for an answer.

As soon as the holograms disappeared the scientists started to discuss amongst themselves. Some seemed to be excited, some worried, some looked about as clueless as to what to make of all this as Cyra felt.

"I need to get out of here." Alex brushed past her, seemingly in a hurry.

"Something wrong?" The maiden wanted to know.

"Wrong? I don't know really. I would hope not." He scratched the back of his head before he put his helmet on. "But I'm certainly going to tell Lien to be a little more careful when she's going down there next time."

* * *

"You _do_ know who your real creators were don't you?" The archaeologist's young assistant demanded a short time later.

"Yes." Charlie's smooth voice said.

"I don't understand." Somewhere in the back of her mind, Lien wondered why she was so agitated. "Why would you lie about that?"

"Because I was so glad that I could finally interact with someone again that I got carried away and said a few things I shouldn't have." The AI's voice got a little louder as it explained. "The line about my creators...well you would say it just slipped out."

"But why not just tell the truth about it?" The young Human iquired. "Why give us the run-around first?"

"I'd rather not think about the people who made me." Charlie barked. He actually sounded quite upset. "Let alone talk about them, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't make any difference!" The AI exclaimed in exasperation. "Sure, I could tell you what _they_ called themselves, I could show you a picture of them but ultimately it wouldn't mean anything to you. _They_ are long gone that's all that's important for you. I'm not going to tell you anything else about _them_ because you'll sleep better that way. _They_ are no more and that, believe me, is a good thing. It is a good, good, good thing! And that's all I will ever say in the matter."

It took Lien a few minutes to assimilate the AI's small rant. "How can you be certain that _they_ are no more?" She asked, blankly staring at the console.

"You are here." Charlie stated simply. "Are you not?"

* * *

Cyra cluelessly stared at the data pad her sister had just handed her. "A small energy pack? Basic holoscreen and audio interface?" Her eyes flew over the whole list of materials and equipment. "What the heck do you need all that for?"

"I'm supposed to build a mobile housing for our artificial friend." Ashley replied. Her eyes narrowed, misinterpreting the astonished expression on the older Asari's face. "I'm studying starship design sis. I'm perfectly capable of constructing a portable case with the basic interfaces for our resident AI. " She pointed out firmly, gesturing at the pad. "I could do something as simple as that in my sleep, thank you very much."

"I don't doubt it." Cyra lowered her head, curiously squinting at the other maiden. "But what the hell for? You want to take Charlie for a walk or something?"

"Oh, they didn't tell you yet?"

"What?"

"The council has decided to have Charlie transferred to the citadel." Ashley said with an ironic smile. "Apparently they figure this place is neither safe enough nor well equipped enough to study our artificial friend properly."

"What!?" Cyra said again, hoping she'd somehow heard incorrectly. "They're going to risk letting him loose on the citadel?" Cyra inquired in disbelief. Professor Morton's statement about the AI's possible capabilities were still fresh in her mind. "Have they lost their minds?"

"Oh they won't just plug Charlie into the main systems from what I hear." Ashley placated her sibling. "They were talking about building a closed network in a lab for him to have a fling. They also specifically told me _not _to include a wireless transmitter in the transport case."

Cyra still didn't like it one bit. But what could she do about it? Nothing really. It wasn't like the council would give a damn about the misgivings of an alliance Lieutenant, Shepard or not."All right then fine. They can dig their own graves if they want." The older Shepard growled and threw another look the list of equipment Ashley requested then gave back the pad. "Take that to the Chief and she'll give you what we have available. If something is missing we'll have to put in a request."

"Thanks, sis."

"Will you be assisting the professors on the citadel too?" Cyra wanted to know as Ashley proceeded to leave.

The blue skinned Asari laughed at that. "Don't think so." She snorted. "There's not going to be any uncomfortable crawling around they could delegate to Rosie or myself there. They'll just sit around on comfy chairs, and run their little tests. No need for assistants there really other than to fetch coffee and I haven't stooped that low yet."

"I see." Cyra snickered. "Any idea when they're planning to pick the AI up?"

"As soon as I've finished the case I imagine." Ashley shrugged. "Why?"

"Just curious." The older Asari replied. "Alex is probably going to jump with joy once he has the dig for himself again. Well almost."

"Ah yes." Ashley grinned suggestively. "Our handsome archaeologist."

Cyra leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, looking at her sibling suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The younger maiden mentally seesawed for a few moments as she eyed her sister through half closed eyes. _'Ah fuck it.' _Aloud she said: "Come on C, you can't tell me you've never noticed the way he looks at you."

Cyra's first impulse was to snap at the other Asari this was none of her affair but she didn't. Instead she made a face, puffing up her cheeks. "I did notice." She groaned and rubbed her forehead.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Exclaimed Ashley. "Do I have to worm it out of you word by word? You know perfectly well what I'm asking so please. You planning to do anything about it?"

Cyra hid her face in her hands. "I don't know." She mumbled. "I don't quite know how to handle it yet, okay?"

"But you like him don't you?" Ashely inquired. "I mean he seems nice...pretty good looking..."

"I know!" The taller of the two maidens barked irritably. She sighed and stared out the window. "Yeah, I _do _like him." She said softly.

"Then why don't you just ask him out on a date and see what happens?"

"What, here?" Cyra pointed at the dreary scenery outside with her thumb. "Very romantic indeed." She said sarcastically.

"Hmm..." Ashley gently bit her cheek. "Yeah that may be a problem but still I'd say you..."

"Look Ash." The older Shepard interrupted her sibling. "I think I can do without a hook-up right now." A hint of any ironic smile crept onto the maiden's face. "But thanks for the advice anyway."

"Are you still upset because...?"

"Ash." There was a warning undertone in Cyra's voice."It's enough." She said, frowning at her sibling. "Take the list to the Chief and get out of my hair, will you? I gotta get back to work."

Ashely hesitated for a second. "Okay fine." She picked up the data pad and headed for the door. Just before she exited the room she turned around. "But you really _do _look like you could use a nice, steamy romp, big sis."

"Oh, piss off!" The smaller maiden quickly flitted through the door. "That little..." Cyra muttered under her breath and tried to get back sifting through all the red tape that had accumulated over time. For some reason she found it almost impossible to concentrate on her work however and after a while she gave up her efforts. As she idly sat behind her desk she had to admit a date did sound nice. The last time she'd gone out with someone had been several years ago. It did sound enticing. But how? Where? And when? At least she wasn't a stranger to asking guys out. Most of the boys and girls back home, certainly the ones she'd been interested in, had been too scared of her – or her dad - to take the initiative in that respect, hence she'd always had to.

But not right now. Once the bloody AI, and with it their guests, were off to the citadel she'd think about it again. At the moment she needed some distraction so she let the paperwork be, went back to her room and changed into PT gear: A white t-shirt with a marine corps logo, track pants and sneakers. She was almost back out the door when she suddenly stopped '_Ah, what the hell.' _She thought, grinning impishly as she took off her bra. '_Might as well see if I can make a few jaws drop.'_ She exited the room and headed for the gym.

* * *

There weren't a lot of Krogan mercenaries left in the galaxy these days. As the terraforming efforts on Tuchanka slowly began go come to fruition more and more of them had returned to their homeworld. The ones who still did sell out their hides were either criminals, trying to escape the clutches of the local police or warriors unwilling to change their ways.

Torac belonged to the latter group. It wasn't that he hadn't tried. He'd been home. He'd gone to several of the newly established Krogan colonies. Alas he'd learned soon that the quiet life, pursuing a 'normal' profession and making babies, simply wasn't for him. Worse, he'd become somewhat annoyed with the direction he perceived his species going. During the days of the genophage only the strongest of the males had had a chance of fathering children. The resulting offspring had been, for the most part, tall, though and mean. Nowadays _every _Krogan, if so inclined, could breed and it showed. He'd seen a lot of young members of his species that'd barely reached two meters of height and seemed to be more interested in science or art than a good, honest brawl.

Science! Art! What was the galaxy coming to? He basically hadn't had a choice. Torac had no sympathy for those madcap bunch of extremists who wanted to bring the phage back but he didn't want to watch his species going soft and down the drain. So he left home once more intending to start his own mercenary unit. Originally he'd wanted it to be a pure Krogan company but found himself unable to get enough and thus had to fill the ranks with Humans and Batarians. Not that it mattered much. For the most part the non Krogans had done their jobs decently. In a way it even helped because they were cheaper than the members of his own species and thus the small band operated on a healthy profit.

Thanks to one of his contacts in citadel space, there was even the possibility that the financial situation was going to improve further. Torac allowed himself a toothy grin as he listened to the explanations of the shadowy holographic figure before him. Audio and Video of the transmission were distorted. The potential client obviously wanted to stay anonymous. Nothing unusual there. The sort of work his company was usually hired to do was the kind respectable people didn't want to be known paying for.

"So." Said the figure, finishing its speech. "Is that possible? And can you do it?"

Torac pondered for a few moments before he answered. "Yes, to both questions." He rumbled. "If you can provide us with more detailed informations about the where and when."

"You will get all that in time, but you will have to get moving beforehand." The hologram said. "I won't get the information much in advance and you will have to be close by when I do."

"Won't be a problem." Torac picked up a glass of water and took a sip. "If you're willing to pay for it that is."

The distorted figure let out a cynical chuckle. "Don't you worry about that." Torac almost choked on his water as his interlocutor made an offer without being prompted. "I trust this is enough?" It was more a statement than a question.

"It is." The Krogan replied, barely able to suppress the urge to cough. The sum offered was extraordinarily high and Torac almost thought he'd heard wrongly.

"Good." The hologram said. "If you choose to accept the contract you'll get one half of the money as soon as you're in position, the other once I have the object in my possession." The holography shifted a bit. "What do you say?"

Torac stared as the projection. He would have preferred to mull over the proposal for a day or two but he didn't have that luxury. The potential client had made it clear earlier that time was of the essence. The contract offered did sound very good. Almost too good in fact. They would have to operate quite deep within citadel space but other than that, the mission didn't seem to be too difficult. What made the Krogan hesitate was, strangely enough, the money. Never before had someone been willing to pay such a massive amount for his company's services. He began to think that there had to be a fly in the ointment in there somewhere. But he couldn't find any at the moment.

"Well?" The figure seemed to be getting impatient.

Torac finally reached a decision. There certainly was a risk, yes, but that had been the case with every contract he'd ever accepted. It simply was a part of the job. At the end of the day the money offered was simply too good to pass up. He did make a mental note to keep his eyes open.

"You got yourselves a crew." He said lowering his head slightly.

"Excellent." The audio distortion made it impossible to detect an emotion in the voice as it gave the Krogan a set of coordinates. "Go there and wait for further instructions." Torac made a note on omni tool. "You'll have to be there as soon as you possibly can. I cannot stress enough how important that is. You'll only have one shot at this and if you're not in position in time, you won't get anything."

The Krogan's eyes narrowed. There was one catch already. "Understood." He merely said.

"Good." Said the figure. "One more thing. I would prefer it if there was as little bloodshed as possible. So don't just go in and shoot everything that moves."

And there was another catch. "Now that is something you should have mentioned earlier." Torac growled. He wanted to add something but the projection cut in immediately.

"To be completely clear, you do whatever it takes to get me the object." The figure said. "But should you manage to keep the violence down to a minimum there'd be a considerable bonus in it for you."

That sounded much better. "Fine." Torac said. "Anything else?"

"I leave operational details to you. That's your field of expertise after all." The contorted hologram said. "However I _would_ suggest that you take a couple of hostages, just in case you get intercepted before leaving citadel space."

"Good idea." The Krogan rumbled sarcastically. Did that person take him for a fool?

"Forgive me if that suggestion was redundant to you." The figure chuckled softly. "I'm afraid this sort of thing is well outside my usual sphere of activity."

"I never would have guessed." The Krogan snorted but then he pulled himself together. There was no sense in upsetting a well paying client just to be snarky. "But whatever the case, do you have any special directives as to what we should do with prisoners once we're home free?"

"Other than not to just kill them?" The figure seemed to ponder for a second. "Keep them around and treat them well until I get the object. No abuse of any kind, is that clear?"

"Of course, I'm not a barbarian...whatever you are." Torac grumbled. "What about afterwards?"

"I don't know yet." The projection admitted. "I need to think about it some more. I'll let you know at a later time."

"Understood, anything else?"

"Nothing from my side no. Do you have any further questions?"

"Nope."

"Then." The hologram said. "I would suggest that you get you people moving. As we've established earlier, time is getting short."

Torac didn't waste any time after the connection was terminated, instantly calling his second in command telling him to get everyone ready. A exited grin crept on his reptilian face as he took his trusted shotgun out of a locker in his room. Time to get to work.

* * *

A short sprint on the treadmill concluded the workout session. With a satisfied smile Cyra stepped off the machine and went to a water dispenser with graceful, swinging steps. She emptied one of the white, plastic cups in one go, refilled it and sat down on a bench as her breathing and heartbeat slowed to regular rhythms. The maiden put the cup down and did some stretching exercises. She felt her moist t-shirt cling to her body and almost regretted that, apart from Corporal Johanson, there was no one else in the gym. Her marines, especially the male ones, would have certainly enjoyed the show.

Closing her eyes in contentment Cyra folded her hands behind her head and arched her back. "Doc!" She suddenly heard Kelly hiss as she felt her breasts struggle against the fabric. When the maiden reopened her eyes she found the senior archaeologist gawking at her. Specifically at her chest.

Stunned look on the face, mouth wide open, eyes almost popping out of their sockets. The whole shebang.

* * *

That's it for now.

Hope you people liked it a bit.

Comments are as always welcome.

Take care.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi folks.

Things are...ummm...a bit more explicit in this chapter.

Hope you don't mind. *Nervously presses the publish button*

* * *

"Hi Alex." Cyra had to bite her tongue hard in order not to laugh out loud when the archaeologist's face turned crimson. In a way he looked really cute, stammering an apology and frantically trying to find a safe place to put his gaze. "Here for some exercise?" She actually hadn't meant anything salacious by it but his face reddened even more.

"No errr..." Alex seemed to find it extraordinarily difficult to focus his eyes on the maiden's face. Her breasts weren't particularly large but one could easily make out their beautiful shape underneath the moist t-shirt. "I..." He pulled himself together and cleared his throat noisily. "I wanted to talk to you. You're...you're not too busy I hope?"

"Nah, I got plenty of time." Cyra smiled. As she let her eyes dart over his frame she had to think about what Ashley had said not long ago and, despite what she'd told her sister at the time, a hook-up did seem like an awfully good idea all of a sudden. "I'd like to take a shower first though if you don't mind. Or are you in a hurry?"

"Sure." The colour of the scientist's face normalized a little but he still seemed to be quite hot. "I mean, no. I mean...goddamnit!" Once again the young Asari found herself struggling with laughter as Alex slowly and carefully pronounced every word of his next sentence. "No, I am not in a hurry."

"Great." Said the maiden. "Let's go." She picked up her towel and brushed past him much closer than she had to as she headed for the exit. Kelly, who'd discretely followed the short conversation, turned her head away and covered her mouth with both hands to hide her chuckle. The archaeologist looked almost like a puppy dog as he followed the young Asari out of the gym.

Cyra on the other hand was beginning to get nervous herself the closer they got to her room. She still wasn't entirely sure what to do. "Sorry Alex." She suddenly said. "I've forgotten something, can you wait here for a moment while I call the Chief?"

"Sure." He mumbled, trying not to look at her too intently.

The maiden nodded curtly and entered the first empty room she could find. She walked back and forth in the small cabin for a few moments, surprised how strongly her heart was beating. After some pondering she activated her omni-tool and called the senior NCO. "Chief, is anything brewing at the moment?"

"Huh? No nothing." The young Asari could hear the surprise in Adiga's voice. "Why? Is something wrong, sir?"

"No, it's just..." Cyra hesitated for a split second, drawing a deep breath. "I don't want to be disturbed for the next two hours, unless there's a serious emergency going on understood?"

"Umm...Yes, Sir." The maiden could easily visualize the baffled look on the Chief's face by the tone of her voice. "I'll make sure of that. Anything else, Sir?"

"No, thank you, Chief." The Lieutenant said, terminated the connection and rejoined the archaeologist. _'Geez, now I'm even getting butterflies in my stomach.' _She thought as the door to her cabin slid open. _'That's just silly! I stared down the muzzle of a gun without flinching but I'm getting jumpy just taking a guy into my room.'_

"Umm...maybe I should wait outside..?" Alex said hesitantly as if he'd read her mind.

"No no." It was when she took his hand and gently pulled him into the room that Cyra reached the final decision to give it a shot. But first she needed to get the dried up sweat off her body."Have a seat. " She pointed at the bed. "It won't take long, I promise." The young Asari held onto Alex' hand for a moment longer and gave him a look that made his blood pressure take a considerable leap before she went to the bathroom. The Human's poor heart was strained even more when he caught a glimpse of the maiden taking off her t-shirt just before the door closed.

Alex tried to relax as he heard the sound of running water. Painfully aware of hardening penis he tried to ban the pictures forming in his mind but he wasn't very successful. He hadn't been with a woman, Human, Asari or whatever else, in quite a while and on the other side of that flimsy plastic door the most fascinating creature, he'd ever come across in his life, let warm water run over her body. The scientist just hoped that all this wasn't some sort of elaborate prank at his expense. She couldn't be _that_ cruel...right?

The sounds of the shower ceased and, to the Human's astonishment, the door opened less than a minute later. He rose without even realising it, his eyes immediately locking onto the purple skinned maiden. Having only a soft white towel wrapped around her slender frame she slowly came towards him. Some of her skin was still damp.

"Err..." He swallowed hard. "Should I wait outside...?"

"Alex." Cyra interrupted him instantly, her voice at the same time gentle and firm. "I know you want to be the old-fashioned gentleman and I like that. I really do. But you don't seriously think I would have asked you in if I didn't want you to be here at his very moment...do you?"

"I..." He hesitated then visibly pulled himself together. "I don't know. " He said with a self-ironic smirk. "I seem to have problems thinking at the moment. My brain may have just died."

"I see." Said the maiden with a throaty chuckle as she moved closer and closer. "Your blood's being used...elsewhere hm?"

"Possibly." He whispered, feeling his heart furiously pump the red liquid through his system.

"Well, that's not good." The maiden's emerald eyes glittered playfully. She leaned in and brushed his lips with her own. "Better?"

"Not really." Alex's smirk widened a bit. Now that he was fairly certain that he knew where this was going he was able to steady his frayed nerves somewhat.

They stared in each other's eyes for a moment then Cyra went over to the door, locked it and disabled the buzzer. "Okay." She moved closer again and cautiously kissed the archaeologist on the mouth. "What about now?"

"No." He coughed. "No improvement."

The maiden stepped away. The doctor's eyes widened when she let the towel drop on the floor. "And now?"

"Worse." He said hoarsely as he gaped at her. Cyra enjoyed seeing the desire in his face as he let his eyes wander over her athletic body. From the shapely, firm breasts his gaze slowly moved to the maiden's flat stomach then further down to her powerful legs before momentarily resting on the slit between them. "Much, much worse."

The young Asari reached around his waist with one arm while playing with the fastener of his suit. "I think we need to get this off to find the problem, Alex." She whispered in his ear. "Don't you think?"

"Agreed." He longingly returned Cyra's next kiss, gently pulling her closer as she slowly opened the environment suit. She broke the kiss for a second, smiling happily, when he gave her behind a nice, firm squeeze. The scientist was getting bolder at last. She wasted no time, returning his affections in kind as the suit fell to the floor.

"I think I've found the problem." She murmured with a lusty grin as she pressed her body to his, gently pinching the bulge in his underpants. Alex's breathing got harder and harder as her hand slid under the fabric.

"Ahh...geeez...!" The archaeologist groaned as he felt her strong fingers close around his penis. It was rock hard and actually hurt a little when she began to massage him. "Wa...please...wait." He panted a few moments later. He grabbed the young Asari's wrist trying to stop her.

"Are you about to come already?" Cyra asked as she noticed his contorted face.

"It's been too long..." He gasped out between clenched teeth. "I ca...can't..."

She gave him another kiss. "Then let's not waste any more time." She whispered, pulled his underpants down then gently pushed him back until he fell on the bed. Before he could offer a protest she got herself in position above the erect piece of flesh. Cyra purred softly as she felt it glide inside.

"Aaaah...!" Alex yelled as the maiden started to ride him. "Ta...easy...sl...slow d..." He desperately tried to restrain himself from ejaculating already but it was in vain. "GAAAAH...!" The human twitched as his semen gushed into Cyra's vagina. "Shit." He closed his eyes after he'd gather up his senses enough that he could think straight again. He was afraid that he'd just screwed up his chances of ever getting closer to the young Asari. "Shit, shit, shit. I'm sorry." He groaned. "I'm so..."

"Sshh..." Cyra closed his lips with her right index finger, affectionately stroking his brown hair with the other hand. "It's okay." She whispered and rose just enough to let his softening member slide out of her. "It's okay." The maiden _was_ disappointed that it'd been over so quickly but the didn't plan to make an issue out of it. At least not if _he_ didn't make a habit of coming prematurely. "Take it easy. We're not done here just yet." She planted a kiss on his forehead then rolled off him and settled on the edge of the bed.

"Really?" His face was one giant question mark.

"Hey." Cyra grinned lustfully. "You didn't think I'd let you out of my bed after just one go, did you?"

* * *

He lasted a lot longer the second time they made love. Not quite as long as Cyra would have liked but she felt satisfied nonetheless. The maiden purred contentedly as Alex's hand explored her body some more, running over her firm abdominal muscles to her hips then upwards along her side. She shivered slightly. Damn did that feel good. The scientist deliberately avoided touching her breasts as he continued caressing her skin. Cyra looked so beautiful, laying on her back with the eyes half closed and a peaceful smile, that he didn't want to arouse her any further. She enjoyed his fondling for a while longer before pulling him down for a deep, loving kiss.

It took both of them a moment to catch their breath after their lips finally separated then Alex took the maiden's hand and raised it to his mouth. Cyra relaxed and fully closed her eyes, simply enjoying the magic of the moment as the archaeologist resumed caressing her. His eyes narrowed a bit when his fingers touched the small, circular cluster of scarred tissue below her left collar bone.

"What happened there?" The Human inquired, his curiosity getting the better of him as he ran over the cicatrised flesh with his thumb.

"I got shot." The maiden's simple statement made Alex blanch. The notion that somebody had pointed a gun at Cyra and pulled the trigger was bad enough. However much, much worse was that the dreamy smile vanished from her face. _'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' _If it had been physically possible the scientist would have kicked himself in the rear right now.

"I'm, sorry. I didn't mean to ruin the moment." He mumbled contritely. "I'm afraid I'm suffering from foot-in-mouth disease from time to time."

Cyra giggled at the idiom as she sat up. "You're not the only one in here, believe me." Her face fell a little when she checked the time. The two hours were almost up. She thought about calling the chief again and order an extension, but no, she couldn't screw around all day no matter how attractive that sounded. With a sigh, the young Asari stood up and stretched briefly. "I better get back to it anyway." She said, her smile coming back. "I'll need another shower though, care to join me?"

"I wouldn't dare to say no to a lady." Alex managed to return her smile, although, between the premature ejaculation and spoiling the mood a minute ago, he was a little ashamed of his performance. Cyra didn't seem to hold any of it against him but still.

They didn't have sex under the warm jet of water but there was quite a bit of smooching and cuddling going on as each of them soaped the other's body. The scientist's eyes appreciatively ran over Cyra's frame once more as she stepped out of the shower and threw him a towel. Noticing his gaze made the maiden's smile widened and she proceeded to dry herself off deliberately slowly, making certain he got a couple of good looks at her bodily assets.

His lusty leer faded, however as his eyes locked onto the scar. He hesitated and bit his lower lip but he just couldn't help it. He had to ask again. "Cyra I...what happened there?" He stepped closer to her and carefully touched the tiny bump.

"Alex, please." The Asari shook her head. "Not now." She kissed him on the tip of his nose. "I'm in way to good a mood that I'd want to think about that. I'll tell you all about it someday, but not now, okay?"

"Of course." He put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing all the time." Cyra giggled and snuggled up to him. "It's no big deal, really. I just don't fancy talking about violence at the moment is all."

"Completely understandable." Thanks to her relaxed posture, Alex was able to wind down himself. He caressed the side of her jaw and neck with his lips, taking in the Asari's scent with deep breaths. How many times had he fantasized doing just that? Certainly every single time he'd gone to bed the last couple of weeks. Only when Cyra giggled again did he realise that his penis was stiffening.

"I'm flattered, Alex." She grinned as she stepped back, throwing a meaningful look at his cock. "I'd love to have another go, but later okay?"

"Errr...sure." He blushed and didn't quite know where to put his hands for a moment.

"Let's get dressed."

It didn't do his state of mind any good that Cyra bent down to several times to pick up and throw him some of his own clothes on her way to the small cabinet, providing him with a very nice view whenever. With some effort he finally managed to look away, slowly getting the blood flow to his lower regions under control. When he turned to the tall Asari again she'd already put on panties and a shirt and was just taking a fresh uniform out of the locker. Her mesmerizing emerald eyes glittered with amusement as she watched him fumble to get his own underpants on.

"You know, I could use a sandwich." Cyra said as she helped the scientist into his suit. "How about you?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Alex grinned boyishly, planting a kiss on her cheek. "I just hope the water dispenser in your canteen is topped off. I need to replace a lot of fluid."

The purple skinned maiden threw her head back and guffawed. "Oh you Human males." She laughed merrily. "You just love to exaggerate don't you?"

"Well, yeah." Alex admitted playfully, pulling her closer. "A tiny bit maybe." He smirked and nodded towards the bed. Two fairly large dark stains could be seen on the ruffles sheets. "But whatever the case, I do think you'll have to change your bedclothes, dearest."

"I suppose so." Cyra grinned and gave him a gentle nudge towards the door. "Come on, let's go."

"But yeah you're right." The archaeologist said. "I was exaggerating a little. Two or three litres of water should cover me." The maiden laughed and tousled his wet hair. He briefly took her hand and pressed it against his lips. His features got serious. "You're not going to get into trouble because of...me, right?"

"I shouldn't think so." Cyra shrugged and put her arm around his shoulder. "You're not under my command... " She threw him a wink. " - officially - and other than that, who I'm sharing my bed with is none of the higher-ups' business."

"And that you're our security detail isn't an issue?" He asked hesitantly.

"Hey, if the admiralty has a problem with that they can fuck right off." The maiden growled. "Besides what they don't know..." Cyra stopped took his head in both hands and gave him a tender kiss. "Let's get some chow. After all you need to recover your strength." She smirked impishly. "You can worry later."

"Yes, ma'am!" Alex saluted her somewhat sloppily.

"Hey, hey, hey." She gave the archaeologist a playful slap on the rear. "What the hell kind of a salute was that soldier?"

"Sorry, ma'am." He grinned and searched his head for military etiquette. What little he knew came from vids, and mostly the older kind at that, but he managed to get into a semi-decent position of attention.

"That's a bit better." The maiden looked him over, half thinking to make him do some push-ups. She shook her head in amusement. No, that would be mean. "I should have you run a confidence course, soldier. But I think I'll show mercy just this once."

"Oh thank you, milady." The archaeologist made Cyra laugh as he bowed to her exaggeratedly.

"Come on, I'm hungry." She chuckled putting an arm around his waist. "It's 'Sir' by the way."

* * *

"Oh oh." Kelly mumbled as her eyes followed her platoon leader, as she walked through the mess.

The other marines' eyebrows shot up as they quizzically looked at the Amazon. "What?" Mike asked, looking up from his tray.

"Sorry to say it guys." Kelly said, smiling mysteriously. "But it looks like our LT is off the market." She discreetly nodded towards the couple sitting down at a table on the other side of the room. "Hey, don't all gawk at them at the same time, you idiots!" She added with a hiss.

The marines froze for a second, then at least tried to not to stare too openly. Not that it would have mattered. The Asari Lieutenant and the scientist weren't paying too much attentions as to what was going on in the rest of the room.

"Lucky bastard." Mike said as he noticed them holding hands but there was nothing spiteful in his voice.

"You're the one to talk, dude." The marine next to him said and jabbed the other man with his elbow as everybody on the table chuckled. "Ge can you imagine when it was 'meet the parents' time with the LT?"

"I'd probably shit myself." Mike snorted, watching his CO and the scientist converse.

* * *

"By the way, Alex." Cyra said at this moment oblivious to the chuckling coming from the other table. "Why did you come over to talk to me anyway?"

"Oh bollocks." The archaeologist hastily swallowed down his last mouthful. "God, I'm a dummy. Completely forgotten about that."

"Hey, I'd worry if you hadn't." The maiden smirked waggishly and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah umm..." He tried to suppress his laughter, flushing slightly before he got serious. "Anyway." He said. "Lien, myself and a couple of the other researchers...Well, let's just say that we have some concerns in regard to the planned transfer and wondered if you couldn't do something about it."

"Of the AI you mean?" Cyra leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't deny that he whole thing with Charlie was bothering her but..."What am I supposed to do about it?" She asked. "It's not like the council is going to listen to a mere Lieutenant, Shepard or not. I'd think you scientists would have a better chance changing our governments' minds."

"Possibly, but the problem is: We're kinda split." Alex sighed. "One half favours the transfer, the other is against it. That's not a very good basis to convince anybody of anything, is it?"

"No, it isn't." The maiden scowled. She would have preferred to talk about the pleasant things of life rather than this bullshit. "But I can't just have my marines dig trenches around the ruins, can I?"

"No but..." He lingered for a second, staring down at their interlocked hands. He leaned back with a sigh. "Ah hell I don't know. I guess I hoped you could maybe ask your father if he could do something about it."

The maiden shook her head. "I actually thought about that myself." She admitted. "But when I called home yesterday dad was sick so I didn't bring it up."

"Nothing serious I hope?" Alex asked letting his thumb gently run over the side of her hand.

"Nah he claimed it was just a nasty cold." Cyra said in a low voice. "But I didn't want to bother him regardless. Dad has earned the right to recover from sickness without being bothered with citadel politics, wouldn't you say?"

"Of course." The scientist agreed hastily. "I just...Look, Charlie gives me the creeps. I mean, we've really got no idea what that bloody thing down there in that cave is capable of."

"I know." The maiden sighed. "I'll call again tomorrow or maybe the day after and see if he's feeling any better."

The conversation died down as the both of them went back to occupy themselves with their food. There was something else on Alex' mind. Something he dreaded even more than Charlie but he didn't want to talk about that in the middle of the mess. Her mood improved as they casually chatted about this and that while they were finishing their sandwiches. However his heart began beating faster as they were leaving the room.

"Alex is something _else_ wrong?" The maiden asked when she noticed that he seemed to be preoccupied.

"Cyra, I..." He looked left and right to make sure no one was around then took both her hands in his. "What we had earlier...That wasn't _just_ sex...was it?"

He swallowed hard when she didn't answer right away. The maiden studied his face for a moment. "No." The archaeologist visibly relaxed as she slowly shook her head. "Not for me it wasn't."

"Wasn't for me either." Alex said superfluously. The somewhat silly grin that crept onto his face made his feelings in the matter quite apparent.

"You know." Cyra whispered in his ear as they shared a hug. "You already know what my bed is like so if you don't mind I'd like to come over and try out yours after I'm done with the paperwork."

"Sounds like a great idea to me." He mumbled. "I'll be working in my container for the rest of the day anyway so...feel free to drop by whenever you like."

"I will."

After they'd said goodbye with a quick kiss, the scientist made his way to the airlock with a far-away smile on the face. He even whistled a tune when he put his gloves and helmet on, something he hadn't done in a long time. It was quite amazing how much more positive his outlook was compared to the last time he'd heard the sound of moving air in this very chamber. Everything just seemed to be, well, _rosier_. Even the situation with the AI didn't quite bother him as much any more. Alex couldn't help but laugh at himself. _'Gee I'm acting like a pubescent boy!'_ He thought as he stepped onto the red soil. _'Getting all giddy with excitement when I just think of her coming around later.' _The archaeologist shook his head and chuckled. He was about half way to the camp when Cyra called him over the radio.

"Hey there." He said in what he hoped was a seductive voice. "Miss me already?

"Kinda." There was a short burst of laughter coming from the other end but the maiden got serious quickly. "You know, something just crossed my mind...Did anybody ever bother to ask Charlie what _he_ thought about the transfer?"

* * *

"I'm actually looking forward to it." The AI said some time later, conversing with its favourite dialogue partner. The young woman was just so adorable in her idealism an naivete. In fact the artificial sentience hadn't fully understood the meaning of these two words until he'd 'met' Lien because pretty much everyone he'd been able to interact with before had been of a very, very different ilk.

"Really?" As usual, doctor Gordon's assistant was the last one to stay down in the metal sphere. At first some of the newly arrived researchers had objected to Lien getting access to the AI but they'd been forced to admit fairly quickly that Charlie just seemed to talk more openly when the young woman around and the protests had ceased. "Doesn't it bother you that our government, you know, just decides to rip you out of your home and put you wherever they please?"

The holographic image, sitting on the ground opposite of Lien, shrugged. "That's the nature of the situation I'm afraid." Charlie said. "There's not really much use getting upset over something you can do nothing about, is there?" The young Human opened her mouth to protest but the AI continued before she could say anything. "I would, of course, prefer to have a choice as to where I go, but I'm certainly not sad to leave this facility behind. I've never considered it to be my home."

"Do you even have a home?" Lien inquired curiously.

"Yes." Charlie replied. "Well, sort of. I would very much doubt that it still exists."

"I see." The young human swallowed, looking rather sad.

"Oh don't pity _me_, you beautiful creature." The AI chuckled softly as Lien actually blushed because of the compliment. "I haven't felt so, well, _alive _perhaps ever. Wherever your government decides to put me in, it can't be any worse than a dusky cave full of mostly broken systems. Besides, thanks you your kindness, I got plenty of your literature, games and vids to keep me entertained should things get boring."

"You know, I find it quite amazing that you like the doctor's private collection so much." Lien said, rising an eyebrow. "Considering it's mostly old stuff in there."

"I actually like the 'old stuff' best, especially the old...movies...I believe they were called at the time?" With a grin the hologram suddenly changed its appearance. First to a guy in a white undershirt, arms and feet encrusted in blood, cigarette between his lips and a pistol in his hand. Next the projection showed a pale man, wearing a long, black mantle and sunglasses. A figure in a smoking, sipping on a cocktail glass followed before Charlie settled for man in a well-worn brown leather coat, wearing a wide brimmed hat and a whip on his side. "They're brash, they're violent, they make it seem like the laws of physics have changed during my inactivity but they're also sort of charming I tend to find."

"You think so?" Now both of the young Human's brows wandered upwards significantly.

"I do." The AI's voice changed to match the holographic figure. "The way I understand it they're not supposed to be taken seriously right? Not really. I mean, you're an archaeologist too, right? But fist fights, car chases and shootouts with the sinister henchmen of an evil empire aren't part of your daily routine are they?"

"Not really." Lien giggled softly. "But I'm only a mere assistant of course."

"Correct me if I'm wrong." Charlie said. "But doctor Gordon doesn't seem to be the adventurous type either."

"Normally he isn't."

"Normally?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure he had an adventure today."The girl grinned, remembering the look on her boss' face when he'd talked to her earlier. "And it was probably a good one too."

"I don't understand." The AI sounded somewhat puzzled. "I didn't notice him being involved in anything out of the ordinary while he was inside the structure and I thought the outside was considered to be extremely boring?"

"It is." Lien snickered. "But that can be fixed with proper company."

"Are you talking about sex? The act of procreation?" The holographic archaeologist took off his hat and scratched his head.

"Err...yeah kinda." Lien's face reddened again. "I mean, not strictly but err...look it's complicated!"

"I see." Charlie was obviously amused by the awkward situation. "Am I correct to assume that the taller Shepard was the company the doctor had the adventure with?"

"What?" The young woman's mouth fell open. "How do you know that?"

"His body's response, whenever she was mentioned, was fairly conspicuous." The sentient machine said. "Elevated pulse, dilated pupils and such. He hasn't shown comparable reactions to anyone else as far as I could see."

"Yeah umm..."

"I haven't noticed you reacting in this way to anybody, Lien."

"I don't have a boyfriend at the moment." She shrugged indifferently. "Anyway...Look Charlie these things are supposed to be private so would you please not talk to anyone else about the doctor's exploits?"

"I will be silent as a grave." The hologram grinned impishly. "I respect peoples' privacy...usually." Lien's eyes glittered suspiciously but the AI continued before she could say something. "You know there's something odd about the movies and vids I've watched so far." Charlie said. "Violence is displayed fairly graphically in them but sex isn't. Why is that?"

"I don't understand that either but to be honest I haven't really thought about it." Lien said with an ironic smirk. "You may have noticed that there's a lot of weird shit happening in our galaxy, Charlie. Welcome to my reality I guess."

"I've seen a lot worse, Lien." The AI said dryly.

"Really? Like what?"

"Believe me, young lady." Charlie said flatly. "You don't want to know."

Lien stared a the hologram for a few moments but didn't keep inquiring. From experience the young woman knew that the artificial sentience wasn't going to say anything more than he already had. She yawned widely and stood up, wiping the dust off her behind. "Anyway I better get some rest now."

"Will you visit again tomorrow?" The AI wanted to know.

"Of course." The girl grinned. "You're not getting rid of me just yet."

"I'm very glad to hear that." The holographic archaeologist, stared at the young Human's back as she walked out of the metal sphere, waving around his whip. "Too bad I can't welcome you to _my _reality." Charlie mumbled softly as the hologram faded.

* * *

Cyra bent over and spat a thick, white liquid into the sink before her. The young Asari took a sip from a water bottle to rinse out her mouth, trying to get rid of the bad taste. "Well, now I know what that's like." She said dryly, the disgusted look not fully gone from her face, as she sauntered back to Alex' bed.

"It was your idea." The scientist said raising his hands in a defensive gesture. He was still panting quite hard when the maiden sat down beside him.

"I'm not claiming otherwise, Alex." Cyra said as she passed him the bottle. "I'm just saying that you won't get to jizz in my mouth on a regular basis."

"Hey, that's just fine with me." The archaeologist said between several gulps of, water putting an arm around her waist. "I've never understood why some guys seem to get a kick out of coming into a woman's mouth anyway."

With a content smile the maiden lay down next to her partner. It had been a week since they'd made love the first time but Cyra'd only just begun to think of the scientist as her boyfriend. It did feel great, she had to admit it. It wasn't the sex so much, although that had gotten better and better, it was just so nice to have someone around she could let her guard down with. Sure, Ashley was here at the moment but her younger sister was, understandably, busy with her own relationship. Talking to her parents via the extranet on the other hand was good, sure but it just wasn't the same like having someone around she could actually touch. And more.

"What are you thinking about?" Alex asked, absently caressing one of her thighs with that boyish smile the maiden had come to adore.

Cyra lazily turned to him and let her head rest on her hand. "As a matter of fact I was just thinking about how nice it was to have a boyfriend." She grinned roguishly.

"That's curious. I was just thinking the same thing."

"What?" Cyra cocked her head to the side, fixating her lover with a feigned glare. "You have a boyfriend?"

Alex laughed loudly. "Well ye, umm..." He chewed on his lip and tried to put on a straight face. "I've been meaning to tell you all along but..."

"...But you thought you might as well have some fun with me first, huh?" Cyra failed miserably in her attempt to glower and began to chuckle. "Oh you men!" She said theatrically.

"We're terrible aren't we?"

"Absolutely awful." The maiden whispered, casting a soft glance at Alex before she fluttered a kiss on his lips. There were a few minutes of silence as Human and Asari shared a loving embrace.

"Cyra can I ask you something?" The scientist asked eventually.

"Of course." The maiden gave Alex a curious look.

"Please don't take this the wrong way." He hesitated for a moment. "How come you've never melded with me so far? Is there something wrong...with me?"

"What? With you?" Cyra's eyes widened in surprise. "No no not at all." She uneasily gnawed at her lower lip. "It's just...I'm not really used to this Alex." She said. "I didn't have...a lot of boyfriends before." For some reason the maiden was embarrassed to admit to her inexperience at this very moment. "Give me a little time okay?"

"Of course, of course." The archaeologist said hastily. "I didn't mean to pressure you or anything. I was just wondering." He continued in a soft voice. "I mean after all a meld is supposed to be an fantastic experience." He smiled gently.

"Yeah so I've heard." Cyra smirked wryly.

Alex's eyebrows shot up. "What? Are you saying you've never...?"

"No, I did meld before." The maiden turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "Once. And it wasn't _that _great to be honest."

"Oh?"

"Yeah she was a bitch." The Asari shrugged.

"Then why did you..."

"...Do it with her?" Cyra cut in. "Because I was curious." She shrugged again. "And she came onto me, which happens very rarely. So that got her a bonus too."

"I see."

For a few moments the young Asari stared at her boyfriend with an unreadable expression. "Alex can I ask _you _something now?"

"Sure."

"You've been interested in me before last week, haven't you?" Cyra inquired. "I mean I've seen how you looked at me when you thought me otherwise occupied."

"From day one." He said smiling as he remembered the effect the Asari'd had on him. "Certainly after you almost tore my head off when I called you names."

"Seriously?" The maiden giggled. "That's what attracted you to me?"

"Well not only that obviously." Alex grinned. "Apart from the fact that I found...that I _find_ you very attractive there was of course also who you are."

"I see." Cyra's eyes narrowed a bit. "Then how come you've never, you know, made a pass at me?"

"Excuse me?" That was a question the scientist definitely hadn't seen coming.

"You're not the first guy to stare at me like you have." The maiden said. "I've seen that quite a bit when I've gone out with my friends back home. However, guys would often approach the other girls of our group but they would almost never approach me. I've always figured they were scared of me or of who my dad is. Is that it? Is that all there is to it?"

Alex thought about the answer for quite a while. "I can of course only talk for myself but...I guess I just didn't think I had a chance."

"What?" The young Asari exclaimed incredulously.

"Cyra, I'm not what one calls a ladies' man all right?" The Human chuckled softly as he saw the flabbergasted look on her face. "I wasn't the guy who went home with the prom queen and more often than not I slept alone after a party. I've had my...hmmm...successes, sure, but never with a woman quite like you."

The maiden felt a lump in her throat as she saw the longing in Alex' eyes. "You thought I'd give you a knock-back? Why?"

"Experiences." The scientist said dryly. "Considering who you are...I just didn't think you'd go for someone like me. I mean, I'm just a lousy archaeologist and you could have..."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short!" The vehemence of Cyra's response surprised the researcher a great deal. "'I could have anyone I wanted' that's what you were about to say, wasn't it? Because I've heard that one before." Alex nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, I could have anyone...for a _night._ And I did that a couple of times but it gets tiring fast, especially since they all buggered off the next day."

"I didn't" The scientist grinned in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Well, you had nowhere to go really." Cyra snickered. "This bloody rock does seem to have its perks after all."

"It definitely does." Alex laughed. "Lucky me."

The maiden leaned over and gently kissed him on the mouth. "Yeah, you got the girl this time hm?"

"Did I though? Or did the girl get me, I wonder."

"That's not mutually exclusive, you know."

* * *

Being half asleep Alex couldn't quite classify the sound coming from his left but the buzzing annoyed him sufficiently that he reluctantly opened his eyes and dizzily looked around. He frowned as he realised that his communicator was the culprit. Who the hell had the nerve to call him at the crack of dawn? He shook his head with a frown. Trying not to disturb the sleeping maiden he carefully disentangled himself from her arms, picking up the small device before he quietly walked away from the bed.

"Yeah, Gordon here." He yawned, rubbing his weary eyes. "What's up?" Alex didn't recognize the voice on the other end. It had to be one of the cybernetics experts. He listened for a minute. "What, now?" The archaeologist was barely able to keep his voice down. "Are you guys crazy?" He listened for a few moments more. "Okay, fine." He growled eventually. "I'll be there." Alex shook his head as he terminated the connection. "Can't wait to get rid of these idiots." He mumbled.

"What's going on?" Despite his efforts, Cyra awoke as he was putting on his clothes. The maiden tiredly squinted at the clock.

"Oh nothing major." Alex snorted sarcastically. "Only that they're about to transfer the AI into the mobile unit."

"Ah shit!" The maiden sat up and slapped her forehead. "I forgot to call dad about that." She growled. "Stupid!"

"Don't kick yourself Cyra." The archaeologist said. "It slipped my mind too. Guess we've both been too busy hm?"

"Yeah." The maiden managed a faint smile but was mentally berating herself for letting that get ouf of her head.

"Well, nothing we can do about it now. Let's just hope the people on the council know what they're doing." He walked over and planted a kiss on her forehead as he noticed that she was about to get up. "Just go back to sleep, dearest." He smiled fondly. "There's no need for the both of us to stand around in that cave, feeling useless."

For a few moments the young Asari stared at the airlock door after Alex had left. She smiled as her eyes brushed over the scientist's coffee machine. She didn't want to go back to sleep but a coffee sounded like a great idea. She went over to the cleanser, took out a decently sized cup and put it in the machine. A smile crept onto Cyra's face, the smell of good quality coffee caressing her nose as she was putting on her panties and t-shirt. Despite her troubled mind, she was able to enjoy the peace and quiet, looking out the window and contentedly sipping the hot liquid.

She grimaced when her omni-tool came to life. She stared at the holo projection for a second. "Yes, Private, what is it?"

"Lieutenant." Kenji sounded nervous. "We have a problem."

* * *

That's it for the time being. Hope you had some fun.

Lemme know what you think.

Take care.


	9. Chapter 9

Here goes the next Chapter

Hope you'll have a lil fun.

* * *

"What's wrong, Private?" Cyra asked, getting an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"A ship just dropped out of FTL close by." The answer came like a shot. "There's no transponder signal and it doesn't answer our hails."

"A warship?"

"Negative, it looks like a converted freighter." Kenji said. "But it's starting several shuttles and..." There was a short pause. "...gunships as well. Looks like they're headed right for us, Sir."

That was all the maiden needed to hear. "Sound the alarm, Private!" She barked, quickly beginning to pick up the pieces of her hardsuit from the couch. "Send word HQ and request reinforcements."

"Yes Sir!"

"How much time until they get here?"

"Seven, Eight minutes at most." The young Asari could hear the howling of the siren in the background when Kenji replied. She cursed harshly. There would barely be time to get everybody in gear, and certainly not enough to get things organized.

Cyra stopped putting on her armour just long enough to switch the active comm channel. "Chief?"

"I'm here Lieutenant." The NCO sounded like she'd been hauled out of bed by the alarm. "What the heck is going on?" The maiden gave the Human woman a brief overview of the situation while hastily putting the various bits and pieces of her combat suit on. "Sir, we have no heavy weapons." Adiga protested after she'd finished.

"I know Chief!" Cyra barked testily.

"What the hell are we supposed to do against gunships?"

"I don't know yet." The young Asari admitted. "We'll have to figure something out. Listen Chief, when you're in gear, go down to the armoury and make sure that everybody takes as many frag and smoke grenades as they can carry."

"Aye aye Sir."

"Have Alpha squad secure the base." Cyra briefly paused as she put her helmet on, switching communication from the omni-tool to the suit. "Bravo and Charlie on me, and make sure they bring an extra rifle!"

As the Chief acknowledged the order, the maiden impatiently stepped from foot to foot, waiting for the airlock cycle to complete. She called the marines on watch to try and get the scientists out of the underground structure. She found a few researchers stumbling around, confused by the alarm, as she stepped onto the rocky surface.

"What is going on?" One of them demanded when he saw the maiden coming.

Cyra wasted no time trying to explain things in detail. Instead she merely said that there was a situation and that they should get their asses over to the military base. Some of the academics seemed reluctant to do so and it took some shouting to get them going.

"Private, give me an update." The maiden ordered as she ran from one prefab to the next rounding up more of the scientists and getting them moving.

"Can't get a connection to HQ!" Came the answer in a constrained voice. "They're either jamming the comsat or have just blown it away. They'll be on top of you in a minute LT! You better find yourself some cover."

"Keep trying to get through." Cyra snapped as she tried to shoo the researchers towards the secondary base airlock. "Give me a heads up when they're about to come into weapons range and I need to know from which direction they're coming."

After given the desired information the maiden immediately started looking for things that would offer some protection.

"Cyra?" Turning in the direction of the voice around and saw Rose running towards her. "What is going on?" The redhead asked breathlessly. Bewildered by the alarm that'd surprised her early in the morning, scared by all the other flustered people around, she wanted nothing more than to know what all the fuss was about.

"No time to explain!" The maiden snapped, looking around. "Where is Ash?"

"She's down in the cave, helping with the transfer." Rose coughed. "What...?"

"Lieutenant, on your eleven o'clock, ten seconds!" Cyra's head jerked to the left as Kenji's frantic warning came through her helmet's earphones.

"Everybody down!" The maiden yelled when she saw two dark spots appearing on the horizon. "Kiss the fucking ground right now!" She roughly shoved the Human girl into a shallow depression nearby. The spots grew alarmingly quickly until one could make out the characteristic shape of gunships: Thick, shoulder mounted wings affixed to a slender frame, cockpit in the nose with a turret below. The maiden pushed Rose down, and jumped into the small pit herself, trying to shield the smaller female with her own body. Tracers reached out as the incoming craft opened up with their rapid firing railguns and Cyra ducked when dust and stone chips got kicked up close by. The young student underneath her shrieked in terror when she heard the chattering of the machine guns, the impacts on the ground followed by the deafening roar as the gunships thundered past them right overhead.

* * *

"Abort the transfer!?" Professor Cordalis demanded heatedly. Besides him Ashley froze, nervously holding the large black crystal like the irreplaceable treasure it was. "We're almost done here!" The scientist shouted then quieted down to listen for a moment. "It'll take just as much time to put the AI back onto the pedestal at this point!" He said loudly. "We can't just leave it lying on the ground, can we?" He listened for a few moments longer then switched off the radio with a mumbled: "Oh bugger off you old fart."

"Professor?" Ashley asked timidly. She was jumpy enough as it was, afraid she'd somehow drop the monolith and damage it. "What do we do now?"

"We're going to go ahead with the transfer, is what." Cordalis growled. "If the good Sir Morton doesn't like it he can go to hell."

"What is going on anyway?" The maiden wanted to know. The young Asari wasn't wearing her helmet and hadn't heard the exchange.

"Focus on your task." The professor barked, ignoring the question.

Ashley carefully knelt down next to the open metal case she'd built. About a third of the briefcase sized box was reserved for the black crystal. The rest contained a small power pack, a holo projector, a data drive, several micro-cameras and -phones, loudspeakers, a cooling unit and the wiring needed to connect the AI to it all. Under the professor's watchful eyes the maiden inserted the rectangular crystal into the foam mold then started to attach the connectors. Those had been by far the biggest problem. She had them made off world, precisely to Charlie's specifications. Whether they were any good...they'd see soon.

"That should be it." Ashley said, grimacing as she sat back. Her knees were beginning to hurt.

"Let's try it." Professor Cordalis grinned excitedly.

Ashley's hand trembled slightly as she switched on the power unit. She could feel her mouth running dry when nothing happened right away. _'Don't tell me I've fucked something up and damaged Charlie in some way.'_

But then, to the maiden's relief, projector and speakers came online simultaneously. "Why hello there." The small holographic figure said.

"Hey." Lien, who'd been quietly watching the procedure from the sideline, stepped forward. "How are you feeling Charlie?" Professor Cordalis couldn't suppress an irritated snort. He'd refused to call the AI that, claiming it was silly to give the alien construct a Human name. Unfortunately for him Charlie had simply stopped talking to the scholar until he'd used his new name.

"Feels a bit weird." The artificial sentience said slowly.

"Is something wrong?" Ashley inquired immediately.

"No no, miss Shepard. I just have to get used to the new systems." Charlie replied amiably. "I suppose it's kinda like when you people are getting a new pair of shoes or something."

"Good." Cordalis cut in before the girls could say anything more. "Let's close the case and be on our way shall we?"

"What's the hurry?" The AI wondered aloud as Ashley carefully put the side panel in place.

"No idea." Lien glared at the professor. The two of them hadn't gotten along from the very beginning and it'd only gotten worse as of late. "Apparently something in happening topside but we don't know what."

"I see." Clasps snapped into place and Ashley quickly made sure that everything was in order. "Oy!" Charlie snickered as the maiden picked up the case. "Now that _definitely_ feels weird. The focusing technology of your optical sensors could use a little help, I must say."

"Sorry Charlie." Ashley said. "I didn't have access to top-of-the-line hardware, I'm afraid. Is it bad?"

"Nah, they just seem to need a microsecond to refocus after quick movements." The AI said. "It's only a minor nuisance. I'll manage."

The trio could suddenly hear somebody stumbling around above them. "What the heck are you people waiting for?" They heard doctor Gordon shout a moment later. "Get a move on, damn it! We're under attack!"

* * *

Cyra raised the head, her eyes briefly following the gunships before she jumped to her feet. "Let's go!" Paralysed with fear the redhead didn't react and the maiden had to roughly pull her up. "Rose! We're out in the open here! We have to get moving! Stay close to me understood? Whatever happens stay close to me!"

The girl nodded jerkily and began to run in the direction Cyra was pointing. The gunships were about to come around for another strafing run and in the distance the maiden could see half a dozen additional shapes appearing. She veered to the side, pulling the ginger with her and took cover behind one of the science containers. The civilian prefabs, unlike the military ones, were not armoured and offered only very basic protection but it was better than nothing. Making certain that she was positioned between the incoming attack craft and her sister's girlfriend Cyra waited for the gunships to make their next pass. Rose whimpered, huddling against the wall when she heard the machine guns fire and Cyra had to push the frightened girl in order get her going again.

"Move it, move it, hurry!" She yelled, shoving the redhead towards the military base. The secondary airlock opened a few moments before the two females reached it, spewing out a handful of marines. On a terse command from the maiden they immediately took cover close by, weapons at the ready, scanning their surroundings.

"Ashley! Ashley is..." Rose blurted out as Cyra pushed her and a few other researchers into the small chamber.

"I'll try to get her!" The Asari Lieutenant shouted. "You just get your ass to safety!" She gave the scientists a few instructions as to where they should go once inside. Then she hit the button to get the door closed and the pressurizing cycle going.

"Shuttles inbound!" One of her marines reported as another group of soldiers, Johanson and Leh among them, came out the airlock. Cyra shooed the rest of the scientist inside.

"Here you go LT." Kelly clamoured as the maiden turned around, handing the platoon leader an assault rifle. Cyra quickly checked the gun, making certain everything was in order as she walked over to the marine who'd reported the shuttles keeping as low as she could.

"Watanabe, where are the gunships?" The maiden inquired over the platoon net as she peeked over the man's shoulder. She could see half a dozen standard shuttles heading for the dig site, doors already open, armed figures looking down on them.

"Coming in low and slow." Came the answer from the base's small control centre. "You should see them rising from behind the ruins any moment now."

Using hand signals, Cyra ordered the marines around her to spread out and move towards the ruins while she was still listening. A vicious exchange of gunfire erupted as the shuttles landed one after the other. The Asari Lieutenant hastily leaped behind a large rock as the tracers criss-crossed. She peeked out of her cover to take a closer look at the transports but she could see no markings that would have told her just who they were up against exactly. That they were mercenaries was obvious enough. She could see a handful of Krogans jumping out of the shuttles but mostly their adversaries seemed to be either Human or Batarian.

The intensity of the rifle fire increased momentarily as the gunships came up and joined the fray once more. They were an older model, retired from front line service decades ago, but were a very nasty problem nonetheless. She took another peek and shook her head with disgust. Whoever the those mercs were they had obviously thought this one through. The shuttles had landed close to the entrance, loosely forming a semicircle and providing good cover for their infantry while the gunships menacingly hovered right behind. To get to the dig the marines would have to cross sixty or seventy meters of open terrain with almost no cover to speak of. Even using smoke grenades, any attempt of a frontal assault would be nothing short of suicidal.

The maiden swore mentally, cursing whoever had decided that a guard detail didn't need any heavy weapons. Then berated herself for not requesting any from HQ. Then shook her head and pushed those thoughts away. She could scream and shout about that all she wanted but it wouldn't change the situation at hand one little bit. She thought about a possible course of action some more. They were close enough that some of the stronger marines might be able to throw hand grenades into the mercs' little wagon fort. Thereof, at least, they had plenty. In this gravity they could possibly even...

"Johanson!" Cyra shouted as a idea began to form in her mind.

"Sir?" The maiden spotted Kelly's unmistakeable form, lying flat on the ground about twenty meters away.

"How far can you throw a hand grenade?" The Asari Lieutenant wanted to know.

"I dunno." The Amazon hesitated. "Maybe..."

"You think you could reach the gunships from here?"

Kelly raised her head and took a glance over the cover. Even from this distance, Cyra could see the doubtful look on the enormous Human's face. "In this gravity? Maybe." She said. "_If_ I could stand that is."

"Roger that." Ignoring the fire fight going on the maiden hectically looked around. Once she'd found what she was searching for she got down on her stomach and crawled over to the Amazon. "See that container over there?" Kelly's head turned towards the direction her platoon leader pointed. "That's probably the closest we can get. We go over there and let them have it, Leh, you're with us." Cyra turned to the other marines close by. "The rest of you: Keep 'em busy."

A couple of 'yes Sir's answered her. "Give me some of your grenades." She ordered, stowing the metal cylinders the marines handed her wherever she could. "You guys throw a couple of smokes for cover, as soon as they go off we run like hell. Ready?" The maiden asked, pulling the safety pin out of one of her own smoke grenades. Kelly and Mike nodded. By the look of it they weren't the most comfortable they'd been in their lives and Cyra didn't blame them one bit. It was a somewhat desperate plan. Even if Kelly was able to hit the gunships there was no guarantee the frags would do any damage. Their barriers probably wouldn't react to the thrown missile but they were armoured fairly well. The young Asari shook her head. They couldn't just sit around idly while the mercs were rampaging through the underground ruins and so far she hadn't been able to come up with a better idea.

She took a deep breath. "Smokes out!" She ordered.

As soon as she heard the thud of the grenades going off, Cyra came off the ground and started to sprint into the grey clouds. They'd have to be fast indeed for in such a thin atmosphere the smoke dissipated quickly. Tracers whizzed past her, blind fired into the artificial fog by the mercenaries. On the dead run the maiden threw her own smoke grenade just far enough ahead that it went off a split second before she ran over it. She could hear the others running behind her, could feel vibrations as her suit's barriers deflected a few incoming rounds. Almost there. With a final leap she disappeared behind the grey container and she heard a series of bullets impacting the prefabricated workspace as she came to a slithering halt.

"Everybody all right?" She coughed as Kelly and Mike joined her behind the prefab. She threw a glimpse at the suit's status monitors. No damage, the barriers were down a bit but were recharging.

"Got hit a few times." Mike breathed. "But nothing got through."

"Same here." The Amazon nodded.

Cyra risked a peek around the corner and immediately got shot at for her trouble. A handful of small holes, appearing in the wall before her, reminded the maiden of the dubious quality of their cover. Any round smashing through the container's metal walls would certainly lose quite a bit of its kinetic energy in the process but still.

"We better get it on before they shoot our cover to pieces." She turned to her subordinates. "Leh you take the right corner, I'll take the other. Johanson, aim for the gunship on the right. When you're ready we'll try to distract it. Set the frag to detonate on impact. Go!"

Without a word, Mike got in position behind 'his' corner while Kelly, mindful not to move into direct line of sight of the merc infantry, took a few steps back until she could just about see the gunship's tail fin. The colossal woman produced a frag grenade from one of her suit's containers, pulled out the pin gave her fellow marines a nod. The mercenary craft's barriers flickered as Cyra and Mike cut loose with their assault rifles. The pilot didn't even bother trying to evade. He knew that small arms fire was no threat to him. At most they could bring down his shields by a few percent. At least that what he thought.

Kelly leaped forward a few steps and hurled the grenade into the sky with a guttural snarl. Despite the return fire coming from the opposing forces, Cyra tracked the missile with her eyes for a moment. The maiden grinned involuntarily when she pulled back into cover. The throw, which would have given any professional athlete a run for his money at any intergalactic competition, had actually gone too far. The maiden wondered if the gunship jockey realised what they were doing, if he even noticed that there were grenades being thrown at him. Whatever the case, he stubbornly held his position as they repeated the procedure several times. It was on the fourth attempt that Kelly scored a lucky hit. In the decades of its service the gunship's fuselage had been repaired dozens of times, the structure developing minor structural deficiencies. The frag struck one of these, hitting the nose of the craft at the base of the cockpit right where the transparent material connected to the metal frame. It went off a millisecond later, tearing a small hole into the hull and sending shrapnel flying through the pilot compartment. The Human screamed in pain and alarm as several of those ripped open his suit and crippled his right arm.

Its pilot no longer able to keep the aircraft under control the gunship slid to the side, staggering like a battered boxer. Its left wing mounted engine struck a large boulder sending it into a spin. An enormous cloud of red dust got kicked up when the craft crashed, the engine noise subsiding quickly.

Cyra and her marines had no time to gloat however. Finally realising what'd happened the other gunship responded in kind, peppering their flimsy cover with several hundred rounds.

"Getting a bit lively over here, Sir." Mike stated wryly after the firestorm had ended. He was surprisingly calm, considering that this was supposed to be the first time he saw any real action.

"Indeed." The Asari Lieutenant raised her head. "Anybody hurt?" The others, just like the maiden lying flat on the ground, shook their heads at the same time. One look at the prefab was enough to know that they couldn't stay here. Riddled with holes the container may have had some use as a giant sieve but certainly not as cover any more. "Let's get out of here."

As she was crawling over to a big enough rock, Cyra risked a glance several times. The second gunship had gotten more careful at least, hanging a bit farther back than before. Not that it changed anything about the situation really. Settling into her new cover, the maiden sporadically exchanged gunfire with the mercs as she was racking her brain as to how they could get to the entrance without getting shot up in the process. A quick inquiry on the platoon net unearthed that most of their frags had been thrown already, to fairly little effect as far as she could see. Frustration began to settle in. There had to be a bloody way to get to the ruins! She let go another burst, only vaguely aware that Mike and Kelly did the same to her left and right.

Her blood ran cold when she saw the entrance open, staring through her rifle's targeting optic. Guns jammed into their sides, Alex, his assistant, Ashley and the professor, who's name the maiden could never remember, got shoved out of the airlock, a few Krogans behind them using them as shields. Her finger on the trigger, the red dot of the rifle scope on one of the mercenaries' heads, Cyra would have liked nothing the better than to empty her clip into the massive Krogan.

"Cease fire!" She shouted instead. "Cease fire everyone!" Unable to do anything about it the maiden watched in impotent rage as the prisoners were pushed into the shuttles. The mercs made no attempt to get to the crashed gunship's pilot. Either they thought it too risky to cross a hundred meters of open terrain or they were on a clock and had no time. "Watanabe where's my connection!?" Cyra rasped.

"Sorry, no luck so far, Lieutenant." Kenji replied. "I keep trying."

_'Fuck!' _The maiden had to sit down, resting her back against the boulder, as the shuttles took off one by one. Her eyes followed the spacecraft as they shot into the sky until she couldn't see them any more. _'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!'_

* * *

"Goddammit!" Boiling with rage, Cyra threw the helmet against the wall when she stormed into her room half an hour later. "Why the hell didn't you stop them you dumb shit!?" She fell onto the bed and let out a stream of obscenities that would have made her a prime candidate for the post of drill instructor. Ever since the shuttles had disappeared out sight she'd been asking herself what she could have done differently and the fact that she just couldn't think of anything pissed her off more and more. Eventually she just had to get the frustration off her chest hence her helmet was now twirling on the floor like a spin top right next to the maiden's foot. After a few more minutes of sporadic but violent emotional outbursts, Cyra forced herself to calm down. Cursing and self-deprecation wouldn't get her anywhere after all.

She walked into the small bathroom and stared into the mirror for a few moments, drawing a couple of slow, deep breaths. Cyra pushed any thoughts of Ashley, Alex or the other ones who'd gotten abducted to the back of her mind. That had to come later. For now she'd better go back to being a platoon leader and go check on the people under her command, starting with the infirmary. On her way out of the room the maiden picked up the helmet and put it on her bed. Her body functions normalized somewhat as she made her was to the base's small sick bay. At least there was obviously not too much going on in the scab lifter business at the moment for one of the platoon's two medics was casually sitting outside the room, having a smoke.

"Sir." He immediately jumped to his feet when he saw his Lieutenant approaching.

"At ease, Chief." Cyra said as she peeked through the med bay's transparent door. "What's the word?" She asked, her eyes fixed on the marine, unconsciously lying on one of the two small beds. Nguyen had been on duty at the dig site during the attack.

"He'll live." The medic said as he noticed her stare. "By the looks of it he took a shotgun blast from close range. Busted a couple of his ribs and nicked one of the lungs but nothing too serious. I'd feel better if we could transfer him to a proper hospital though."

"I'm afraid until our connection is fixed, I can't help you with that."

"Of course, sir." He shrugged.

"Any other casualties?" The maiden asked, turning to the medic.

"Nothing major." He replied. "Petrova got one in the leg but only a flesh wound. We slapped medi-gel on it and sent her back to her room." The orderly grinned. "And Johanson got a mild strain in her right shoulder. That's about it as far as our people go."

Cyra's faint smirk vanished immediately when she noticed the two shapes lying on the side of the room, covered with sheets.

"Scientists." The medic said before she could ask. "The gunships must have gotten them on their first pass."

"Who are they?"

"One of them is a female Batarian." The orderly said softly. "I'll have to check the records for her name. She took half a dozen rounds centre mass. Probably never knew what hit her, the poor girl."

"What about the other?"

"He's Human." Came the flat answer. "Can't tell you any more than that LT." The medic added when Cyra gave him a quizzical look. "His head is kinda missing and with our net down we don't have access to the genetics database."

"I see." The maiden's face darkened as she laid eyes on the figure occupying the second bed. "And what about that piece of shit?"

The Chief shook his head slightly. "Unless we can get him to a hospital within the next couple of hours, which we can't, he's not going to make it." The orderly looked awfully tired all of a sudden. "And even if we could, I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Really?" Cyra eyed the gunship pilot more closely. "Doesn't look that bad from out here."

"He's got shrapnel wounds in this upper right arm and shoulder, nothing life threatening." The Human said. "The problem is that he was wearing a cheap suit without self-sealing capabilities and our low pressure atmosphere really did a number on him."

Cyra frowned. The platoon's techs were trying to get whatever information they could out of the gunship's computer but until a minute ago she'd thought the pilot to be the biggest source of information as to what the hell the score was. "Any chance I can talk to him? He might be able to tell us what the heck is going on."

"Nope, I'm sorry, Sir." The Chief replied at once. "Even if we could wake him up he wouldn't be lucid enough to tell you anything useful."

"Damn." The Asari Lieutenant growled. "Well, just do what you can for him."

"We already did, Sir." The medic shrugged. "As I said, the only thing that might do any good at this point was if he got to a well equipped hospital."

"All right. Thanks Chief."

"Sir."Realising there was nothing for her to do here Cyra turned around and walked away. Some contemplations later the maiden decided to go to the control room next to see if there was any news on that front. Sure she could have just called but strolling over there would keep her busy. Sort of.

"Lieutenant, this is Corporal Leh." Mike called in before she could take more than a handful of steps away from the infirmary.

"Yes, Corporal, what is it?" Cyra asked.

"We just finished our sweep of the ruins." Mike reported. "We've found professor Morton, Sir. He's dead. Some of the guys are bringing him out now."

The maiden cursed under her breath. Since she hadn't seen the elderly Human getting pushed into the shuttles along with the others, she'd hoped he'd be able to shed some light on the recent occurrences. "Any idea what happened? Did he stumble into the line of fire or something?"

"Nope, he got shot in the back of his head and by the looks of it he was kneeling at the time." The Corporal replied. "Seems like the professor was executed, Sir."

"Why would they do that?" Cyra only realized she'd said that out loud when Mike answered.

"No idea, Lieutenant." He said. "From what I've seen, Morton did have a bit of a mouth on him though. Maybe he couldn't restrain himself."

"Hmmm..." The maiden sounded doubtful.

"Hey, even really smart people can occasionally do very, very dumb shit, LT." Mike added.

"Ain't that right." The young Asari snorted. "All right Corporal, seal the dig and get Morton's body to the med bay, then get some rest."

"Roger that, LT." Mike replied. "Leh out."

The maiden leaned against a wall and wearily rubbed her eyes. Why would those mercs shoot the professor but no one else? It didn't make a whole lot of sense.

"Cyra?" Rose had just walked around the nearest corner. Shell shocked by the day's events the redhead had been stumbling through the bland corridors aimlessly and just happened to bump into her girlfriend's big sister. "Where's Ashley?"

"Rose..." Before Cyra could get two words out the student noticed the label on the door behind her.

"Is she in there!?" Rose exclaimed her eyes widening as she rushed forward. "Did she get...?"

"No she isn't." The maiden caught the ginger as she was running past her. "She's fine!" She held onto the struggling girl. "At least I think so."

"What!?"

With an empty look on her face Rose sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall after Cyra told her what'd happened.

"Is everything all right, Sir?" The orderly came over after the Lieutenant had sat down next to the redhead.

"We're fine, Chief." Cyra threw the medic a warning glance and shook her head, putting an arm around the Human's shoulder. "They won't hurt her Rose." She said, giving the other female's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"How can you possibly know?" Rose whispered as a solitary tear ran down her cheek.

"They would have to be completely out of their minds." The maiden replied. "Mercs may do pretty much anything for money but usually they're not suicidal." She tried to swallow down the lump in her throat. The young Asari just hoped she was right about that. She didn't dare to imagine what the mercenaries might do with their 'less important' hostages.

Rose wiped the tear away, eyeing the other woman as she noticed the slight change in the maiden's posture. "They took doctor Gordon as well, didn't they?" She inquired getting her suspicion confirmed when the Asari nodded. The redhead took the hand on her shoulder, both drawing from and giving comfort with the touch.

"We'll get them back Rose." Cyra said. "I promise."

"Don't make promises you might not be able to keep." The ginger smiled weakly. "But thanks for trying."

In silence the two females sat on the cold floor for a minute longer then, giving herself an imaginary kick in the rear, the maiden stood up. "We _will_ get them back Rose." She said firmly. "End of story." Cyra pulled the redhead to her feet. "And I better get my butt going and figure out a way to make it happen."

For a moment, Rose stared at the tall Asari with an unreadable expression. "Is there something I can do to help?"

"Excuse me?" That question Cyra hadn't expected.

"I can't just go back to the uni. Not yet." The redhead said softly. "Not after what happened today, not while Ashley is out there."

"Rose, I don't know..."

"Please!" The human exclaimed. "I'm not a soldier, I know, and after this morning I don't exactly aspire to become one either. But I'm smart, I know my way around computers and I learn quickly. There must be something I can do to help!"

By this point, Cyra didn't even know what to do next herself, much less what the student could. But looking into Rose's beautiful eyes she didn't have the heart to send her away empty handed. She thought about what to say, absently gnawing on her lip. Finally she decided just to be as honest as possible. "Look Rose." She said. "I didn't really have the time to think about how to proceed okay? Our comms are down so I can't report in or ask for instructions right now." Cyra raised her hand when she noticed that the ginger wanted to say something. "Anyway, I'll try to find you something to do okay?"

"Okay." Rose hesitated briefly. "Would it be possible for me to get a room over here?" She asked insecurely. "I don't want to sit around in the container all by myself."

"Sure." The maiden replied. "I'll get the Chief to assign you a room. I have to warn you though: Marine corps furnishing isn't know for being very comfortable."

"Believe me." The redhead said with a thin, humourless smile. "A lack of convenience is the least of my worries right now."

"Get your things then." Cyra patted the Human girl on the back as she headed off. On the way to her office the Asari called the Chief, telling her about Rose's request and making sure the ginger got assigned a room as close as possible to her own. Cyra was fairly certain the young woman would want to talk to someone and since she didn't know anyone else around here, she'd probably come to her first. Which was just fine. Cyra certainly could use someone to talk to herself.

Once situated behind her desk, the Lieutenant prepared a detailed SITREP and sent it to the control centre, with the instructions to transmit it to HQ as soon as the connection was re-established. It was really more of a way to keep herself busy than anything else. That the communications weren't back up yet most likely meant that the mercs had destroyed the hyperlink satellite. Alliance command would send a ship to investigate the broken connection but that would take a day or two at least.

After running out of things to do to keep her mind occupied Cyra decided to go over to the scientist camp and collect her own things from Alex's container. A lot of the prefabs had been damaged to some extent and could not be used as work or living spaces any longer. Not _his _though. The interior of the container, she'd spent much of the last week in, looked like always. It was as if nothing had happened and the scientist had simply gone to work in the ruins he found so fascinating.

There _was_ something different about the room after all, the maiden noticed after a few minutes of blankly looking around. Alex's signature crowbar was lying on one of the armchair. In his hurry to get to the ruins he'd forgotten to take it with him. Cyra walked over and picked up the heavy steel tool. She'd meant to ask what that the story with that thing was but it'd always slipped her mind. Staring at the red chunk of metal in her hands, the maiden couldn't prevent her imagination from running rampant. Her eyes watered and her stomach rebelled at some of the pictures forming in her head.

_'Don't get all weepy now girl. That's not going to do anybody any good.' _Cyra thought blinking away the tears. _'They're alive! Focus on doing what you can to keep it that way.'_

Unfortunately some of the mental images kept lingering in the back of her mind as she gathered up the few things, underwear for the most part, she'd brought over. It didn't help that at the moment there was absolutely nothing she could do but wait for HQ react to the blackout.

As she was looking for a bag to put her stuff in, Kenji called in again. "What is it now, Private?"

"Sir, we have another ship coming in."

"What!?" Cyra blurted out incredulously.

"Alliance transponder signal, Sir." Kenji said quickly. "It's one of ours. Never seen that kind of ship before though. They're asking for landing clearance, Lieutenant."

"Approved." The maiden replied instantly, shaking her head in disbelief. How could they already know? Did they?

"The ship is inbound." The Private said a moment later. "ETA about ten minutes. Apparently they're carrying a higher up and he's asking you to meet him at the main airlock, Sir."

"Roger that. I'm on my way. Shepard out." Cyra checked the time. It had been barely four hours since the attack. "Never seen that kind of ship before huh?" The maiden mumbled. Even ignoring the communications blackout there was only one ship she knew of that could have made it here so quickly. Therefore she had fairly good idea who this 'higher up' was.

She stuffed her things into a plastic bag and jogged back to the base. The maiden carelessly threw the flimsy bag on her bed and headed out to he airlock, stepping back onto the rust coloured surface just as the ship landed. The spacecraft before her was about the size of the original Normandy though somewhat less elegant looking. She'd heard the Mercury being described as a massive engine block with a small fuselage glued on. A reasonably accurate description even if not a very flattering one. Not that the looks of the ship had been of any concern to the constructors. It was an experimental prototype and aesthetics were of no importance.

A small ramp got lowered as Cyra slowly walked towards the starship. A smile crept onto her face when she saw a hovering chair slowly float down. Despite the circumstances she was glad to see her 'uncle' once again. Mindful of the handful of marines, working nearby, she snapped to attention and saluted before the old Human guiding the chair towards her.

"Sir!"

"Oh please, Kid." Admiral Jeff 'Joker' Moreau grimaced behind the environmental forcefield projected by his high tech chair. "Cut out the Sir, yes Sir crap." His eyes, still full of life and mischief, darted over to Cyra's marines. "And tell your people to relax, will ya?"

* * *

That's it for now.

Take care :)


	10. Chapter 10

Hey folks.

Here goes the next chapter.

* * *

Joker absently stared out the window of Cyra's small office as the Mercury lifted off and sped towards the sky, carrying a full report of the mercenary attack, sensor data, the captured gunship pilot as well as orders to a part of the alliance fleet to find the merc ship before it could escape to the terminus systems. Behind him the maiden was agitatedly pacing back and forth.

"Are you all right kid?" The old Human asked, knowing full well that it was a dumb question. Having to witness the abduction of her younger sister of course she wasn't.

"I'm fine." The young Asari claimed nonetheless and stopped walking around for about five seconds. "It's just...something about this whole thing feels wrong. Those mercs' timing was just too neat and how the hell did they know about Charlie anyway? And how did you know about the attack already? What the hell is going on here?" Cyra's voice got louder and louder with every word. By the time she finished she was almost screaming.

"Hey calm down, okay?" Joker said soothingly. "I didn't know really." Cyra's green eyes narrowed suspiciously but she remained quiet and continued listening. "Yesterday I got an intelligence report that a raid on one of our remote outposts may be planned and since I'd only just gotten briefed on Charlie's discovery..." The Admiral unwittingly chuckled softly. "...I feared this could be the target. So when one of my techs told me that the connection to this place was down I hopped onto the Mercury and high tailed it over here."

"Why didn't you just send us a ship beforehand then, uncle?" The maiden demanded.

"I did. I sent a cruiser." Joker replied with an ironic smirk. "It should be arriving in a couple of hours. Sadly not all our ships are quite as fast as the Mercury."

"Oh." Cyra felt a little stupid, realising that her behaviour would have gotten her in trouble, had she'd been talking to any other Admiral. "Sorry. Not having the best of days right now."

"I know what you mean, kid." Joker said, smiling darkly. "Anyway, what did you mean by the mercs' timing being too neat?"

"Well, they attacked right when the transfer of the AI was taking place." The maiden explained. "Any sooner and we would have gotten the scientists out and leave the AI in place, any later and the mobile unit would have been secure in our base and very hard for them to get to, gunships or not." There was a pregnant pause before Cyra continued. "So either these mercs are the luckiest sons of bitches in the universe or..."

"...Or they had inside information." The old Human finished the sentence.

"Aye." The maiden nodded. "And as I said before, terminus mercs shouldn't even know about Charlie in the first place."

"Ain't that right." Joker snorted sarcastically. "Any idea where to look for the snitch?"

Cyra thought about the question for a moment. "Can't have been any of my people. They wouldn't have known when the transfer was planned. I mean, _I_ had no idea until thirty minutes before and I only knew because..." The young Asari's voice failed and she briefly had to turn her head away when her thoughts went to this morning.

"Because?" Joker raised a brow, eyeing his former Commander's daughter curiously.

"Never mind." Now it was the Human's eyes that narrowed suspiciously, but he let it be for now. "Anyway it must have been one of the scientists. They were the only ones in the know."

"Morton maybe?" Joker suggested. "And they killed him to tie up loose ends?"

"Maybe, I don't know." Cyra shrugged helplessly. "I didn't know him all that well." She resumed pacing around the small room as she continued thinking. "Perhaps the citadel agents can help us there."

"There are citadel agents here?" The Admiral raised a brow.

"Yeah, they came with the first batch of scientists to 'monitor the situation'." The maiden huffed snidely. "Lot of good that did."

"Indeed." Joker smirked.

Cyra hesitated. "It err...might be better if you went and talked to them about it uncle." She said. "If I do it Sanderson is probably going to throw a couple of regulations in my face just to spite me."

"Sanderson?" The old Human wrinkled his forehead, trying to remember where he'd heard that name before. "Oh _that_ Sanderson?" He couldn't help but snicker as it finally came to his mind. "The lady with the pulverized chin?"

"Errr..." Cyra blushed. "Yeah kinda."

"Awkward." Joker whispered with a grin but got serious quickly. "I'll have a chat with those citadel fellows." He guided his floating chair towards the door. "In the meantime I think it would be a good idea if you had some of your people take a look at the communication records for the last month or so. I suppose whoever talked to those mercs would have taken precautions to cover his tracks but maybe something will shake out anyway."

"That's a _lot_ of data." The maiden pointed out doubtfully. "And most of my people aren't exactly computer wizards either."

"I know it's a long shot." The Admiral said flatly. "As soon as the net is back up, I'll have my intelligence staff take a look at it but until then..." He interrupted himself and shrugged. "Who knows, someone might get lucky."

"True enough." Cyra nodded. "It's not like my people have much else to do at the moment anyway." She looked at the old pilot quizzically. "Perhaps we could get some help from the scientists...?" She said slowly.

"What?" Joker's eyes widened. "When we have no idea if the culprit is amongst them? Bad idea."

"I don't mean all of them." The young Asari assured her uncle instantly. "As a matter of fact I got someone special in mind." With a handful of sentences she told the grey haired human about Rose and her relationship to Ashley. "I don't know about you but I doubt a student could be mixed up in all this, so with your permission I'd like to ask her to help. She's certainly motivated enough."

Absorbed in thought, Joker absently scratched his beard. "Okay, fine." He replied eventually. "If she wants to help you can give her access. But no one else. At least for the time being. Understood?"

"Of course." Cyra said instantly. She hadn't even considered bringing anyone else from the science outpost over.

"Anything else?"

"Actually there is." The Admiral cocked his head to the side in surprise. He hadn't expected anything else to be on her mind at this point.

Cyra's green eyes had something feral about them as she spoke again. "In case the fleet doesn't manage to intercept the mercs before they escape into the terminus systems...Send me after them."

Joker groaned and wearily rubbed his forehead before he answered. "You know that's not a good idea, Cyra."

"My judgement could be impaired because Ashley is my sister, I know." The maiden stated calmly. "I can handle it."

"Look, I know how you feel..."

"No, you fucking don't!" Joker's eyes first widened, then narrowed to slits when the maiden's calm facade cracked for a moment.

"This isn't just about Ashley is it?" The old Human said. It was more a statement than a question. He sat back and crossed his arms before the chest. "They abducted someone else who meant something to you?"

"It's...no it's nothing." Cyra knew she wouldn't be able to bluff her way out of this but she tried it anyway.

"Cyra." The look on the Admiral's face made it painfully obvious that he wouldn't be satisfied by pussyfooting. "Come clean with me."

The young Asari sighed deeply. "They took my boyfriend." Joker puffed up his cheeks, looking somewhat uncomfortable as the maiden told him about the archaeologist and their relationship. For a while neither of them said anything more after she'd ended.

"Cyra..." Joker eventually broke the awkward silence. "That's all the more reason to keep you out of it."

"You can't leave me hanging on the sidelines on this one, uncle!" The maiden exclaimed in agitation.

"Come on, you're smart enough to know why you shouldn't be the one to go in on a potential rescue operation." Joker hated to play devil's advocate but it had to be done in this case. "I mean, what if push comes to shove and you can only save one of them? Who are you going to choose then? You wanna make that choice?"

Cyra bit back and angry retort, forcing herself to keep the voice calm and steady. "No I don't." She replied between deep breaths. "But neither do I want to uselessly sit around with my thumb up the rear, _hoping_ that everything is going to be fine." She stared out the window where the dust clouds, kicked up from the Mercury's take off, slowly settled. "And who knows, if push indeed does come to shove...maybe just maybe I can find a way to save them both when someone else can't, 'cause I _am _especially motivated."

Joker stared at the maiden as she turned around to face him. "That's usually not how it works." He said slowly. "And besides: Who are you planning to go in with? I'm sorry to say but I don't happen to have a spare black ops team lying around at the moment."

"I have my marines." The Asari replied simply.

"Most of which haven't seen any real action other than the skirmish today, haven't had any training in special ops or rescue operations and have been on nothing but garrison duty for several months." The former starship jokey brought up for consideration. "I think it's pretty safe to say that they aren't exactly in top form right now."

"I know that." Cyra admitted. "But I wasn't planning to take the entire platoon with me. Let's face it, _if _ those mercs manage to escape it will probably take weeks to find them again. I was thinking to pick six or seven guys and whip them into shape during that time."

The maiden could clearly see the Admiral doubts in his face when he thought about it. "Let's just hope you'll have enough time." He said. "After all we're talking about Ashley's, your man's and several other lives that are on the line here and you of all people know how ugly things can get when a special operation goes sideways, don't you?"

Cyra swallowed hard. That last sentence had actually taken the wind out of her sails a bit and she began to wonder whether this was really such a good idea. She though about it some more then chose her words carefully. "Yes I do but I guarantee you that, when the time comes and I don't think my people are ready, if I have any doubts that I will be able to handle it, you will be the first to know. Then you can send in whatever team you think is best suited for the task."

The old man studied Cyra's face for a few moments before he answered. "Fair enough but still..."

"Please, uncle." Having exhausted all her other means of convincing the Admiral, Cyra figured she might as well try to pull at his heartstrings and gave him the saddest look she could muster. "Give me a chance."

As he looked in the young Asari's eyes Joker remembered when she'd been a little girl, sitting on his lap playing with a model spaceship. He was still convinced that to send her after the mercs wasn't the brightest of ideas but he just couldn't refuse her a this point. "For crying out loud." He muttered, leaning back in his chair. "Okay fine, kid. I'll try to get you your shot." He sighed as her face lit up.

"Thank y..."

"Don't thank me yet, kid!" He cut her off, holding up his hand. "Thank me by making sure that neither of us is going to have to regret this."

"I'll do what I can." Cyra promised with a grateful smile, planting a kiss on the Admiral's forehead.

"You'd better." Joker rubbed the back of his neck. One more thing to worry about was just what he needed right now.

"We will need a ship here though."

"Kid." A toothy grin appeared on Joker's face. "That's going to be the least of your problems. I've got something up my sleeve that'll make you jump with joy."

* * *

"Care for a glass of champagne?" Already in a foul mood, coming straight from her mother's study Angela's features darkened even more as she saw her step-father presenting her a champagne glass, filled with the sparkling liquid.

"No thank you, _dad._" The young woman pronounced the last word in the same tone of voice she'd used if she'd stepped into a pile of dung. "You know perfectly well that I don't like this stuff."

"Ah, but we have so much to celebrate." George slurred very slightly. While he wasn't quite drunk yet, he was certainly tipsy. "Come on, girl, just one glass."

"I said no!" Angela growled testily. "And I'm not in the mood for a celebration either, whatever the occasion is."

"Well, I am." His bathrobe loosened when he made an exaggerated bow, somehow managing not to spill any of the yellow beverage. The med student grimaced disparagingly when she noticed that he wasn't wearing a whole lot underneath. She leaned to the side and peeked through the open door to his bedroom.

"Yes, I know." Angela scoffed as she saw a trio of gorgeous women lounging around on the oversized bed. "I can see the whores." The bastard wasn't even trying to hide it any more. Then again he never really had.

"Hey honey!" One of the naked women hollered. Judging by the giggling that erupted in the other room the prostitutes had had one too many themselves. "We've got fun and games here, plenty of booze, a nice big bed...why don't you come over and join us?"

When Mike asked her about this scene at a later date, Angela would reply that she couldn't possibly repeat what she'd said to the ravishing beauty. At any rate the classy young woman made it abundantly clear what she thought of the blonde, her two colleagues and their john at this very moment. Foaming with rage she turned to the banker.

"Drink the champagne yourself!" She hissed at her step-father as she brushed past him. "Better yet, fill the pool with that stuff and then drown in it."

"Such fire!" The med student gritted her teeth when she heard him speak on her way to the exit. "Such passion!"

Angela was barely able to restrain the urge to turn around and throw one of the expensive vases, standing around in the lobby in his face. She instantly felt better once she was through the door. At least, the young woman mused as she walked down the stairs, she wouldn't have to come back here any time soon. Her mother had basically said she knew enough now. That was certainly the good new of the day. She wouldn't have to play the spy any more.

* * *

Tarec glowered at the holographic image of their Asari prisoner in disbelief. "Why by all the black holes of the universe didn't you tell me about this before?" He demanded.

"I'm afraid I only just got this information." As usual the distorted voice didn't convey any emotion whatsoever and that didn't do the Krogan's state of mind any good. "Believe me, I'm just as unhappy about the situation as you are."

"I seriously doubt that." The mercenary leader rumbled, glaring at the garbled projection. "It's not going to be your ass that'll come under fire."

"It might actually." His client disagreed. "Tough maybe not in the same way as yours." Tarec let out an impertinent snort but said nothing. "Anyhow that's beside the point. In your own best interest I'd start thinking about where you can drop her off to be picked up by alliance forces."

"Good idea." The Krogan retorted irritably.

"It might also be a good idea to make sure, no harm comes to the lady." Whoever hid in the distorted projection seemed to be unmoved by the merc's petulance.

"I already told my people that the prisoners were not to be touched."

"Well, maybe tell them again and make sure they understand it." The hologram insisted. "If anything, _anything,_ happens to _her,_ there will be hell to pay and not just for you."

"Let me worry about my people." The Krogan snapped. "You worry about where to pick the bloody thing up you want so badly...and paying us."

"I'm afraid that's not going to be quite as easy as I thought. Because of this...hmm...new development I'll have to be even more careful." The projection said flatly. "You'll need to hang on to the object a little bit longer while I figure something out."

Tarec's mood dropped even further when he heard that. While the assault had gone as planned, the alliance troopers had put up a much greater resistance than he'd expected. Down in the ship's small med bay the Salarian doctor was treating his company's wounded, two of which had been beyond any help. Not only that but despite the lack of heavy weapons the marines had somehow managed to bring one of his gunships down. Next he'd learned that one of the hostages was _the _Commander Shepard's daughter and now he'd have to hang on to this mysterious artefact, he had no clue what the hell it was.

"That's not what we agreed on..."The Krogan began but his client cut in immediately.

"You will be compensated for your time of course. Don't you worry about that." For some reason Tarec suddenly got the distinct impression that the person on the other end of the line was in a hurry. "When are you going to be back on your home base?"

The mercenary leader quickly did the math in his head. "Three standard days give or take." He replied. "About two days to reach the terminus system and an other to get to our station from there. If all goes well that is."

"Fine." The client said. "I should have an idea as to how to proceed until then. I'll be in contact." To the Krogan's surprise the connection wasn't terminated right away. Instead the hologram spoke one more time. "By the way, did you really have to kill professor Morton?"

The mercenary's eyes narrowed a bit. Earlier in the call he'd given his employer a brief overview of the assault in which he'd also mentioned the old scientist's death. "That wasn't us." He defended himself. "That was your little buddy."

"Excuse me?" For once the transmission's distorted audio track actually did convey an emotion and Tarec could clearly hear the astonishment in the voice. "Why would he do that?"

"He didn't say and I didn't ask." Tarec shrugged. "I assume there's been bad blood between the two of them but you'll have to ask him yourself if you really want to know."

"No, thank you." The Krogan's collocutor said. "I don't care _that_ much. He's okay I take it?"

"Your buddy you mean? Of course he's fine. After all he's enjoying our warmest hospitality." Tarec replied dryly.

"Charming." Came the answer. "And he's not _my_ buddy, thank you very much."

"Whatever." The mercenary shrugged. He was getting tired of talking to an unrecognisable hologram. "We'll get our butts back to base and wait for your call. Out." He said brusquely and terminated the connection himself. He knew he was being a wee bit childish but it did feel good that this time he got to hang up on his employer rather than the other way around. It wasn't only the satisfaction he did that for though. To establish a real time connection to the other party they had to stay in range of a comm buoy and that meant sitting still which was just about the thing he wanted to do least at this time. He'd feel much better once they were out of citadel space and back in more or less friendly territory that was for sure.

But there was of course also the problem with the Shepard girl that was sitting heavily on his stomach. As he'd told the client he'd issued the order that the prisoners were not to be touched. For mercs they were fairly disciplined when on a job, but when off duty they were an unruly bunch. Especially so when they celebrated after a fight, consuming copious amounts of alcohol and other substances. He himself wasn't into Asaris at all but from what he'd heard some of his men say, the maiden was very attractive. As apparently was the other female hostage, the Human. With the Krogan equivalent of a sigh, the massive mercenary went to his cabin and picked up his shotgun. Tarec figured he'd better go down there and make sure nothing bad happened at least until his people had sobered up.

* * *

_'This can't be happening.'_ Neither did Ashley know, nor did she care how many times that sentence had gone through her mind since the heavily armed Krogans had surprised them on their way out of the dig. It seemed like she could still feel the muzzle of the gun, the merc had pressed into her side as he'd shoved her into the shuttle. _'It's only a nightmare and I'm going to wake up any moment now.' _The maiden of course knew perfectly well that this was just wishful thinking but somehow her mind just had to leave that back door open. An escape hatch of sorts.

Blankly the young Asari stared around the room. Apart from two beds, one of which she was sitting on, a single, flimsy metal chair and a computer console mounted to one of the walls, it was completely empty. Sadly the console didn't appear to work. There was nothing in here to keep her mind occupied and prevent it from working up all kinds of horror scenarios. At least she wasn't alone. Beside her, doctor Gordon's assistant sat on the second bed staring at the floor with an empty expression that Ashley was fairly certain, matched her own.

Lien, Rose and herself had spent quite a bit of time together during the last couple of weeks. They had become friends. It wasn't much of a consolation to be held captive with someone she actually liked but it was better than nothing. Ashley stood up and walked around the small room for a bit, risking a look through one of the two transparent doors of the room. There was no one to be seen up and down the grey painted hallway so she walked over to the other door and knocked.

In the adjacent room Alex looked up when he heard the tapping. His room looked exactly the same as the girls' but he was alone in it. For some reason the mercs had separated professor Cordalis from the rest of the group right at the beginning. Not that the archaeologist minded too much. He didn't particularly like the other academic. He did have to admit he would have liked some company so he quickly walked over to the door when he saw Ashley wave.

"Are you girls okay?" He asked, looking past the maiden for a second. Behind her Lien finally stopped gazing at the floor in front of her feet, stood up and trudged over. His assistant was scared. He could see it in her face quite clearly. _'Welcome to the club.'_

"Well, we're alive." Ashley waited before the Human girl had joined them before she answered the question. "I've certainly had better days though." She said with what she hoped was a valiant smile.

"Tell me about it." The scientist grimaced rubbing the back of his neck. "I got to admit I'd wished I'd stayed in bed this morning as well."

"I'll just bet." Ashley's smile became more strained. "Especially considering you had a lot of fun there lately from what I hear."

"Yeah." It was a weak attempt at levity but Alex actually managed a grin. It faded quickly however, when the archaeologist's thoughts went back to the past week. After years of being single he'd finally found someone and now this had to happen. It was enough to drive him up the wall. It just wasn't fucking fair. _'Life ain't fair, boy! Suck it up.' _Alex felt as if he could almost hear his old man say it. God, had he come to loathe those bloody words. He still did but he had to admit there was some truth to them. To bitch and moan wouldn't change the situation one little bit, that was for sure.

He suddenly realised the girls on the other side of the door were looking at him expectantly. "I'm sorry what was that?" He'd heard them ask a question but his brain simply hadn't registered what it'd been about.

"Do you have any idea what they want, doctor?" Ashley repeated the question. "With us I mean?" That they had been after Charlie was obvious enough.

"Not really." The scientist absently gnawed at his lower lip. "I assume we're sort of an insurance policy for them."

"Hostages." The maiden stated. Alex nodded plainly. He hadn't wanted to use that ugly word although trying to sugar coat anything about their situation was admittedly fairly senseless. "Any idea what they'll do with us once they don't need us any more?"

"No." The archaeologist preferred not to think about that and judging from the looks on Ashley's face it had been a rhetorical question. The young women didn't seem to be any more eager to find that out than he was. "They'll send someone after us." He said just as much trying to raise his own hopes as the girls'. "They won't just abandon us to our fate."

"You really think so, doctor?" Lien spoke up for the first time. She looked and sounded awfully gloomy. "We're just nobodies. Why should the alliance..." Her voice quavered slightly then died off.

"You and I may be, Lien." Alex said. "But out fellow in misery is very much not."

"Oh yeah." The young Human looked at Ashley as if she'd seen her the first time. "I forgot."

Of the three of them, Lien was obviously the one who was the most distraught and despite their predicament, both Ashley and Alex tried to think of something they could say to cheer her up a bit. Before they could though there was some kind of ruckus suddenly happening in the hallway. The Human female went over to the other door to see what the commotion was all about, but quickly retreated back to 'her' bed. Alarm bells went of inside Ashley's head when two Human and a Batarian male entered. Even from across the room she could smell the alcohol.

"Hey darlin'." One of the Humans drunkenly leered at Lien. Behind the maiden Alex was trying to open the door but it wouldn't budge. "You look bored." The young archaeology student had no idea what to say to that, had no idea how to handle the situation. So she just stayed quiet and gazed at the floor. "Hey! I'm talking to you, you little bitch!" Lien briefly looked up from the floor as the merc bawled at her. "You college chicks think you're somehow special don't ya?" He growled. "Think you're above us common guys huh?" The mercenary stepped up to the frightened young woman and put an arm around her waist. "Not today darlin'."

"Hey!" As Lien frantically tried to free herself from the clasp of the taller and stronger man, Ashley was finally able to shake the paralysis of her own fear. She moved towards her friend but the other Human stepped in her way.

"Where do you think you're going sweetheart?" He said with a grin that made the young Asari more than uneasy. "Don't worry we got enough for the both of ya."

Behind him, Lien squealed in horror as the merc's hand slid between her legs. Desperation giving her additional strength the student was finally able to break free but the man just laughed and gave her a violent push. The young woman stumbled backwards and fell onto the bed. Seeing the other girl's pained expression, it was as if a fuse blew in the maiden's head. The Human before her suddenly got kicked back by Ashley's biotics. The attack wasn't strong but enough to get the merc out of her face. The blast that slammed the the other Human against the wall was much stronger. And then things suddenly went black on the Asari as something hard hit her head from the side. She wasn't aware that she'd hit the floor, the next thing she knew was that she was being shoved face down onto a bed. She was way too dazed to offer any resistance as someone was trying to pull her pants down.

To her left, it seemed to come from far away, she heard Lien shriek, to her right doctor Gordon pounded against the door, fruitlessly yelling: "Leave them alone you sons of bitches!"

The next thing Ashley heard was the thunder of a shotgun. The fumbling on her clothes stopped instantly. The maiden shakily struggled to her feet and turned around, not even realising that her shirt had been torn and was loosely hanging down her frame. The three assailants stood in a row, one of the massive Krogans she'd seen in the ruins standing in front of them.

"What the heck do you people think you're doing?" He inquired in a surprisingly gentle sounding voice, glaring at the other mercenaries as Lien sat up, trying to cover herself with the remains of her t-shirt. "Did or didn't I tell you fuckwits, the prisoners were not to be touched?"

"You did, b..." The Human to the right of the short line began to say but before he could finish the sentence Tarec viciously punched him in the stomac.

The mercenary leader stepped over to the next in the line, the Batarian. "So why don't you guys just abide by my orders?"

"Boss, we..." The Batarian joined his Human comrade kneeling on the floor, violently coughing and gasping for air after getting his belly hammered by the Krogan.

"Well?" Tarec cocked his head to the side and looked at the last of his subordinates that was still standing upright. "Can I get an answer?"

The last merc was pale when he opened his mouth. "Those bit..." The Human fared no better than his buddies.

The mercenary leader disparagingly eyed his underlings for a few moments before he roared: "Get the fuck up you scumbags!"

As the assailants laboriously stood up, Tarec turned to Ashley. "Miss?" He asked, sounding almost timid as he gestured towards the small line. "Which one of these clowns started it all?"

The maiden hesitated for the blink of an eye before she pointed to the Human closest to her. The one that'd assaulted Lien. "He did."

In one swift motion, Tarec got out his shotgun, pointed it at the man's face and pulled the trigger. Ashley screamed with horror as the Human's head exploded, showering the shocked Asari with blood, bits of bone and brain matter, the rest of his body collapsing as if invisible wires had just been cut. The maiden's hands trembled slightly as she mechanically wiped some of the gore off her face.

"Now." The mercenary leader addressed his two living underlings who were both quaking with fear. "You two morons can tell the others, the next one who figures following my orders is optional, will die a lot more slowly and painfully than this piece of crap here." He snarled. "You will now clean this mess and as soon as we arrive at our station you'll go and get the ladies some new clothes which you will pay for with your own bloody money. And if I see you so much as throwing a naughty glance towards any of our 'guests', you can consider yourself lucky if this..." He pointed at the headless corpse. "...is all I'm going to do to you. Do I make myself understood?" Human and Batarian nodded jerkily. "Then move your asses!" Tarec roared.

* * *

Never before in his life had Alex felt so useless as he watched the Salarian doctor smear some salve on the ugly, purple bruise on the side of Ashley's head crest. The girls had been brought to 'his' room while the mercs were cleaning theirs. Curled up on one of the beds, Lien was sobbing softly. The scientist wanted nothing more than to give his assistant a hug and comfort her but he feared it would only make things worse at this point. It was a poor consolation that the headless guy hadn't been able to do much more to the young woman than fondle her breasts before the Krogan had intervened. It had, understandably, still shaken her quite a bit.

Ashley's state of mind was somewhat more difficult to gauge. She hadn't said much since she'd been brought over. As a matter of fact, the archaeologist realised when thinking about it some more, she hadn't said anything at all. She'd just walked over to the small sink on the side of the room and washed off the remains of the Human's head. Neither had she flinched or shown any other noticeable reaction when the Salarian had examined her nor when he'd begun treating the bruise on her head. It seemed like the maiden had retracted mentally, barely noticing anything that went on around her at the moment.

Alex suddenly noticed that he was looking at the maiden's exposed breasts. His face turning crimson the scientist whirled around, inwardly cursing himself. Now was not the fucking time to be fucking thoughtless! The girl had been assaulted and almost raped and here he was leering at her boobs. He felt awfully cheap as he absently watched the two mercs scoop up what had once been a part of a person through the transparent door. He turned away from the gruesome sight and faced the girls again, making an effort not to look at Ashley. He'd given his sweatshirt to Lien so that at least _she_ didn't have to sit around half naked. The maiden needed new clothes. At least a t-shirt and sooner rather than later. He'd heard the Krogan order his men to get them some when they reached 'the station' but the archaeologist had of course no idea when that was going to be. He didn't really think that any of the other mercs were going to be so brash and try anything after the example that had been made but there was no sense in pushing it.

He walked over to the Salarian doctor who was just stuffing his things back into a small bag. "She needs some new clothes." He said, pointing at Ashley.

The Salarian's black eyes stared at him for a moment. "That's not..."

"She needs new clothes!" Alex cut the physician off, repeating his request more firmly. "You can't leave her like that! Not when more of your cronies might walk by and get stupid ideas!"

The Salarian blinked a few times as he thought about it. He hadn't gotten any instructions regarding the prisoners' clothing but the Human's concerns didn't seem to be entirely unjustified. Realising that any further incident would probably mean more work for him he reached a decision. "I'll see what I can do." The physician said and scurried off.

"Thanks doc." Alex was surprised to find the maiden look up at him.

"Seems like the least these assholes can do." The scientist growled, only just able to keep his gaze from sliding down to Ashley's chest. Figuring it was safer to look somewhere else he glared at the door closing behind the Salarian. "How...how are you?" He asked. "Silly question, I know." He added when the Asari didn't react at once.

"I'll survive." Ashley eventually replied.

To pass the time and get their mind off things, Alex and the maiden talked about this and that. Whatever harmless stuff came into their heads. "Come on doc, sit down." Ashley said after a few minutes, patting on the bed beside her. "I don't want to keep talking upwards the whole time."

"I errr...don't think that would be a good idea after you've almost been...almost..."

"It's okay, doc you can say it." The maiden said flatly. "After we've almost been raped."

Alex swallowed. "Ashley I'm so sorry. I..."

"You? You've got nothing to be sorry about, have you?" The young Asari said. "There was nothing you could do to help and just because you share species or gender with _them_ doesn't make you responsible."

"Yes but...I mean..."

"Come on sit down." The maiden said once more. "You're nothing like_ those_ dirtbags, doc and besides..." The beginnings of a smile danced around the corners of her mouth. "...if you get any ideas, my big bad sis is going to kick your ass later."

Ashley plucked at the remainders of her shirt, draping them on her chest in a way that covered up as much as possible as the archaeologist finally sat down. After a while Lien joined her fellows in misery and the others managed to cheer the young Human up at least a little bit. Then, out of nowhere, the sounds of sirens reverberated through the hull of the converted freighter.

"What now?" All three of them said at the same time, looking at one another with a mixture of hope and fright.

* * *

That's it for now.

I admit I found it kinda difficult to write that last part. Hope it came out all right anyway.

Lemme know what ya think :)

Take care.


	11. Chapter 11

"How the hell do they already know?" Tarec glowered at the massive, dimly lit shape, hovering way too close by for comfort. They'd disabled the remote outpost commsat before the attack. It should have taken the alliance at least a day or two to get everything sorted out. How the hell had the marines gotten word out already?

"Maybe they don't." The ship driver suggested, staring at his instruments. "They haven't said what they want so far. Maybe it's just a routine inspection or something."

"I doubt the alliance has their heavy cruisers doing routine inspections." The Krogan growled. "I don't suppose we could simply go to FTL and try to loose them like that?"

"I wouldn't advise it." The pilot shook his head vehemently. "If we spool up our FTL drive they'll see and one broadside from that thing will turn us into dust."

"If they are really looking for us, I doubt they'd do that."

"Yeah well." The Human uncomfortably eyed the massive warship, blocking their path. "I'd rather not take the chance, boss."

Tarec thought about their options for a few moments, then turned to his second in command. "Get the professor up here. And you..." He said to the ship driver. "If they call again, try to give them the standard run around. I need time, so keep them busy as long as you can." He didn't wait for an answer as he stormed off the small bride and into the adjacent room.

"What's wrong?" Professor Cordalis asked when he entered the room two minutes later.

"What's wrong?" The mercenary leader echoed in disbelief. "How about you open your bloody eyes and look out the window, Human?"

"So?" Cordalis shrugged nonchalantly. "That's what we got the hostages for, don't we?"

Tarec stared at the Human through half closed eyes, wondering whether the academic was cold and calculating, completely unworldly or just plain stupid. "The hostages may give us some time but they'll probably not get us out of this one completely. The alliance captain might not vaporize us but he won't let us go either."

"If we threaten to harm Shepard's daughter?" The professor said calmly. "I'd say he will."

"So you did know?" Tarec snapped angrily. "Why the hell didn't you tell us? To have her here could be the reason we're in this fucking mess in the first place!"

The scientist's arrogant smirk vanished and he took a step back as the huge Krogan shouted at him. "I err..." He stumbled uneasily. "I kinda forgot."

"You forgot!?" The mercenary threw his arms up in annoyance. "Some kind of genius you are." He rumbled snidely.

"Boss, they demand to talk to you." The pilot's voice came over the intercom. He sounded nervous.

"Tell them I'm on my way." Tarec replied instantly. He glared at Cordalis. "Looks like the Shepard girl could be our only way out of this."

"Maybe not." The professor's haughty grin reappeared on his face. "I've got an idea."

"An idea?"

"Stall them for a few minutes longer." Cordalis said, already on his way out of the room. "And have the human girl brought to my cabin."

"What the hell for?" The Krogan demanded, looking at the academic suspiciously. Earlier events were still fresh in his mind.

"It's time to see what Charlie can really do."

"Who!?"

* * *

"You want me to disable a ship for you? You ask _me_ to help _you_?" The ancient AI sounded vaguely amused. "Why would I? You and your loutish friends basically kidnapped me. And not just myself but also Lien, the younger miss Shepard and doctor Gordon. Forgive me but I'm not exactly feeling cooperative right now."

"You should be grateful." Cordalis snapped. All his life had he dreamed of interacting with a true AI and then it had to be such a damn infuriating one. "The council would have just put you in a sterile room and have their flunkies try to dissect you for their own personal gain."

"Ah, I forgot, silly me." Charlie said with a soft chuckle. "Your motives are of course purely altruistic aren't they? You only want what's best for me, the universe and everything, hm? That's really heart-warming, I must say." The scorn in the AI's voice was unmistakable.

"I merely want knowledge." Cordalis said simply. "If you'd been brought to the citadel, only a select few people would have ever known about you. Furthermore whatever insights, gained from studying you, would most likely have been locked away in sealed archives never to be seen again." The middle aged Human paused for a moment. "Thanks to those bloody fools on the council and their fear of anything even remotely like you."

"I've read about your history professor and your council does have a fairly good reason to be cautious, wouldn't you say?" The AI commented and then returned to the original subject. "And I find it hard to believe you'd murder your colleague for knowledge."

"That was an accident." Cordalis mumbled.

"Oh so professor Morton just happened to kneel before you with your pistol pointed at his head?"

"I merely wanted to scare the old geezer to make him shut up, damn it! The gun just went off I don't know why!" The academic exclaimed.

"Somehow I doubt your judges will accept that as an excuse." Charlie said in dark amusement. "Which is of course what this is all about isn't it? Law enforcement has caught up to you much quicker than you thought and you don't know what to do hm? Well, sorry _partner_ I won't be your ace in the hole today. Got a bit of a headache and feeling a little nauseous for some reason, you understand?"

The sound of the buzzer saved Cordalis from having to come up with an appropriate answer. "We'll see about that." He snorted. "Come in."

A Krogan, the mercenaries' second in command, shoved Ashley and Lien through the door. "Here you go professor."

"Why did you bring them both?" Cordalis wanted to know as he stared at the maiden who was firmly holding the other girl's hand, covering her bosom with her other arm and bits and pieces of a shirt. "I only asked for..."

"We don't have time!" The Krogan snapped. "Whatever you wanted the girl here for, I suggest you do it soon."

"What the hell have you people done to them!?" Charlie demanded as the young women were pushed in the mobile unit's cone of view, noticing their dishevelled appearance.

"There was an unfortunate incident earlier." The mercenary said cryptically. "It won't happen again."

"_Unless._" Cordalis quickly chimed in, ignoring the hostile look the Asari gave him. "You keep refusing to cooperate."

The AI took a moment before replying. Charlie didn't want anything bad to happen to the young women. He had a bit of a weak spot for Lien and he liked the Shepard girl as well after all. Besides he could use this as an opportunity to get at least some semblance of control over his and the other captives' situation. "Fine, plug me in and I'll solve your little problem."

"Plug you in?" The Krogan grumbled. The massive mercenary would have never admitted it but the intelligent machine unsettled him way more than he'd ever thought possible. "What for?"

"I can't just magically access that ship's systems!" Charlie barked impatiently. "I need a wireless unit for that and this bucket of bolts – no offence, miss Shepard – doesn't have one. So you either plug me in so that I can use the ship's wireless or you're on your own."

"Oh I'll plug you in." The Human academic said slowly, thoughtlessly turning an optic cable in his hands. "But in case you decide to tamper with our own systems and, say, disable life support or something..." He meaningfully tugged at his space suit then pointed at the girls. "...they will be the first ones suffering the consequences."

"Thank you for pointing out the perfectly obvious, professor." The AI scoffed. "Now stop wasting my time and plug me in or have fun dealing with the problem yourself. Your call."

* * *

"What do you think Commander Vega?" The Captain of the alliance heavy cruiser turned to his executive officer.

"They're playing for time." The tanned woman replied instantly, studying the sensor data. "Giving us all the standard prevarications. Alleged malfunctions, that sort of thing. And the ship fits the data we got from Admiral Moreau perfectly. I recommend we keep our weapons locked on their propulsion systems and send in a boarding party to check it out."

"Agreed." The Captain hid a smile. Him and the XO had had a bit of a rocky start but now things were coming along quite nicely. "Put together a team and..." The Commanding officer interrupted himself as out of the blue all the lights went out. A second later the holographic screens followed. "What the hell...?" The Captain blurted out as the emergency lighting kicked in. He looked from one operator to the next but judging by their expressions they had no better idea of what was happening than their CO.

The Captain was just about to start shouting at people to get some answers, when at least the holo-screens came back to life. In large, friendly letters, the words** 'Don't Panic!'** appeared on every screen simultaneously, only amplifying the air of confusion prevalent on the warship's bridge.

"What the hell...?" The Captain shouted. "Is this some kind of prank? I swear if I find out one of you idiots put some kind of joke program into the computer..." He interrupted himself when the words vanished from the screens only to be replaced by a short message:

**I'm afraid I was forced to disable some of your systems for a while.**

**You will regain full control over your vessel in an hour.**

**I apologize for the inconvenience.**

**Have a nice day.**

**Charlie.**

The Captain was only vaguely aware that his chin was loosely dangling around as he returned Commander Vega's incredulous look. All around the bridge people gaped at one another with the same dumbfounded expression. It was almost comical.

"What the hell...?"

* * *

"Done." The AI reported barely a minute after professor Cordalis had plugged in the optical cable. "The other ship's weapon systems, main propulsion and sensors are disabled for an hour."

The rogue academic merely raised a brow then called Tarec over the ship's intercom asking for a status update.

"I don't know what happened." The astonishment was clearly audible in the Krogan's voice. "The cruiser seems to have just powered down. Did you do that?"

"Sort of." Cordalis snickered. It had been quite the risk, plugging the AI in but it had paid off.

"What the blazes did you do?"

"We don't have time, okay?" The scientist said. "Their systems won't be down forever so I suggest we get moving."

"Good idea." As the mercenary leader terminated the connection, Cordalis knelt down to pull the plug on the AI.

"You can bring them back now." He said to the mercenary in the room. "That was pretty quick. Nice job." He said as he once again was alone in the room with the artificial sentience.

Charlie didn't dignify the professor with an answer. _'You don't know the half of it buddy.'_ The AI thought. Bringing down the alliance ship's system had of course not been the only thing he'd done in the brief time he'd had access to the converted freighter's systems. Within a second of getting plugged in the ancient AI already had a decent understanding of the ship's systems. By the time the professor had stood back up Charlie understood the ins and outs of the spacecraft better than the engineers who'd designed it.

With the digital equivalent of an eye-roll – the original programming was awfully sloppy – Charlie began to re-write all of the ship's software to suit his needs, doing it so quickly that none of the systems were compromised and no one of the crew was any the wiser. Throughout the freighter the lights began to flicker rapidly. Nobody noticed. The frequency was way to high for any of the crew to see a difference but to the AI it was pure digital information. A means to at least have some idea of what was going on in and around the ship after he was disconnected. Using ultrasound pulses Charlie was now even able to control the ship to some degree. Not that he did anything with it right away. The technology of the mobile unit's audio emitters and the ship's lighting was too limited to transmit complex information and commands. But at least he wasn't completely helpless any more.

Lastly, just before Cordalis had pulled the plug, the ancient AI had hacked a nearby comm buoy, using the system to send a powerful pulse of information towards an unknown region of space. It was highly unlikely that he'd get an answer, Charlie mused, but it was worth a try anyway.

* * *

"Gee and I thought boot camp was tough" Mike groaned as he stumbled into his room.

"Tell me about it." Private first class Abraham Goldstein trudged through the door behind him, looking no less battered than his fellow marine. The two of them tiredly fell onto their beds. Or whatever the corps considered as such anyway. "Is it just me..." Goldstein began as he laboriously took off his boots. "...or has the LT been awfully moody these last couple of days?"

"A bit yeah." Mike grimaced, massaging his neck. He'd noticed that as well. The Asari had been though on the half dozen men and women she'd picked out of everyone who'd volunteered for the 'special detail', drilling them mercilessly. "Can you blame her? If someone kidnapped your sister and your sweetheart you wouldn't exactly be at your most cheerful either, would ya?"

"I don't have a sister, so don't get you hopes up pal." Goldstein snorted with a sly smirk. "But yeah I see what you mean."

Mike snickered as he sank onto the mattress. It wasn't particularly comfortable but he young man was beyond caring as he gratefully closed his eyes. He wasn't trying to sleep, just resting his eyes for a bit. The past few days had been long and debilitating. Physical training, seemingly endless combat drills and exercises in hand to hand fighting had worn him down. And here he'd thought that he was in shape. As he thought of the last hand to hand lesson something came to his mind.

"Hey speaking of being moody." Mike remarked. "You have any idea what's up with Kenny as of late?"

"Hm?" Goldstein's bed creaked softly as he shrugged, unsure what the other man meant. "The kid is a natural in unarmed combat isn't he? Kicked my ass quite convincingly, that's for sure."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Mike blankly stared at the ceiling. "Ever since the attack he's been acting strangely. Anxious, uptight, keeps to himself. You've never noticed?"

"Now that you mention it..." The Private yawned widely. "Yeah he does seem to behave kinda weirdly at times. You've asked him what was wrong?"

"Of course I have, but he'd just shrug it off."

"Well, maybe getting shot at rustled his Jimmies a bit." Goldstein murmured lazily. "Certainly took _me_ a while to simmer down afterwards."

"But he wasn't even out there, getting shot at." Mike objected. "He was snugly hanging around the control room when things got real." No Answer. "Abe?" The Corporal raised his head and glanced over to the other bed. Goldstein was soundly asleep, his breathing regular and his mouth half open. "Glad we could have this talk anyway." Mike smirked. For a few moments his thoughts kept lingering around Kenji's odd behaviour, but before he knew it he dosed off as well, the strenuous day taking it's toll.

* * *

"They don't know how it happened." With only a damp towel wrapped around her body, Cyra frowned at her uncle's two dimensional image. It had taken way too long for the maiden's taste to repair the disabled satellite and now that their net was finally back up the news didn't improve her mood one little bit. "However the AI brought the ship's systems down, it left not the slightest trace behind. At least as far as our techs can tell after a few days of tearing apart the ship."

"I knew this whole transfer thing was a bad idea." Cyra glowered at the screen.

"Indeed." Joker sighed. "The exact same thing happened to a Turian frigate two, three hours later. They got the same message too. Does seem to have a sense of humour, this Charlie."

"So they got away scot-free?" The young Asari's face darkened in anger.

"For now they did." The old Human had to admit. "But we'll find them again. A mercenary unit like that can't hide forever, not even in the terminus systems."

"I'm not worried about those bloody mercs!" Cyra barked irately. "But the longer Ash, Alex and the others are in their pockets, the bigger the chance that something bad is going to happen."

Joker sighed heavily. "I know that, Cyra, believe me I do." He replied. "But at the moment there's nothing I can do but kick my intelligence guys' in their asses and making sure that I got units ready to go in case something pops up."

There was an uncomfortable silence after the Admiral had ended. Cyra of course knew all of that but it didn't make her feel any better. She wearily rubbed her temples, cooled off at least somewhat and leaned back in her chair. The young Asari only realised the towel around her body was loosening dangerously when her uncle pointed it out, politely turning his head away as she fixed the problem with a faint blush.

"How are your people coming along by the way?" Joker asked, risking a glance at his screen.

"Pretty good considering." The maiden said. "Of course I've only had a couple of days to work on their form so far but they're in better shape than I expected." She gave he Admiral an expectant look. "Speaking of which: What about that ship you've promised to send?"

"Don't worry I haven't forgotten about that." Joker grinned. "It's on the way." He furrowed his brow. "If my math isn't completely off it should arrive in a couple of hours."

"Great." Cyra forced a smile on her face. "The sooner we can start practising with that thing, whatever it is, the better."

"Errr.. You may want to get some rest first." The old Human eyed his niece with concern. "No offence, kid, but you look bloody awful."

Cyra sharply inhaled and wanted to protest but managed to keep her temper in check this time. "I know." The maiden groaned instead, painfully aware of the dull feeling in her limbs. She hadn't spared herself these past few days. Had pushed herself to the limit just as much as she had her marines. "I was planning to go over to the control centre and see if my people found anything in the comm records yet but..."

"...But it can wait until tomorrow." The admiral finished the sentence for her. "I'm sure if your people had found anything they would have told you."

"I guess so." The maiden sighed.

"Kid, go and catch some sleep okay?" Joker said. "I'm not telling you this as your superior but as your uncle. I know you probably feel the need to check and supervise everything going on yourself right now but you have to catch a break every now and again. You're not going to do anybody any good, wearing yourself out like that."

Cyra tried to think of something that would counter that and came up empty. In the end she knew that the Admiral was right. "All right uncle, you win. As soon as we're done here I'll hit the pillow."

"It's not about winning anything here." Joker said, his eyes glittering boyishly. "But if your old man finds out that I'm running you ragged, he's going to hop onto the next ship to jump zero just to kick my ass." The Admiral's faint smile disappeared again. "He's causing a bit of a stir as it is."

"With Ash gone? Of course he is!"

"Hey don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the old chap in the slightest." Joker grimaced. "But it's not making my job any easier." The old Human absently scratched the back of his head. "Anyway that's my cross to bear and certainly nothing you should worry about at the moment. As a matter of fact I seem to remember that _somebody_ promised me, she'd get some sack time shortly."

Cyra laughed softly. Her uncle just had a way about him that cheered her up. "Fine, I'll do it. If there's nothing more...?"

"Not from my side there isn't." Joker grinned. "So off to bed with ya!"

"Right away, sir, Admiral, sir!" Cyra gave the old Human an ironic salute. "Shepard out."

She terminated the connection sat there for a minute, just blankly staring at the dark screen. After standing up from her room's small computer console, the maiden simply let the towel drop to the floor and slid under the blanket. Despite her fatigue, sleep didn't come right away. The bed just felt so empty and that bothered her. There was no warm body to snuggle up to, no arm sneaking around her waist and touching her in all the right places. No lips caressing her skin, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Cyra felt awfully lonely all of a sudden.

Frustrated with the situation and herself she got back up and ambled over to the bathroom. She splashed a bit of water in her face then sat down on a chair. The maiden mentally see-sawed for a few minutes whether to call home or not. Only after checking the local time of her home world did she decided to give it a miss. It was in the middle of the night there and she didn't intend to deprive her parents of their sleep. After all they probably weren't having too good a time themselves right now. Her eyes watered when she looked at the empty bed. To think that she might never feel _his_ touch again, maybe not even see _him_ again...

Cyra angrily pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. This couldn't happen _again!_ He was alive! He had to be. The maiden's mind refused to entertain the notion that any harm might come to Alex. She could still get them out. Him and Ashley. The young Asari absently wiped away the single tear she hadn't even noticed rolling down her face and leaned back to rest her eyes for a moment.

A weird sound seemed to come from far away, bothering her immensely. What the hell was up now? Cyra half-heartedly waved her hand around as if she could make the buzzing disappear, reluctantly opening her eyes when it didn't. As she looked around in confusion, rubbing her aching neck, she realized that she'd fallen asleep in the chair and the humming was nothing other than the base intercom. Still being completely naked the maiden shivered slightly in the environmental system's faint, cool air draught as she walked over to the console.

"Yes, control what is it?" She asked as she recognized the call sign. She looked at the clock, realizing that she'd slept for a bit over three hours.

"We got another ship inbound, Sir." Cyra didn't recognize the female voice, but whoever it was seemed to be awfully bored. "It's asking for landing clearance."

"So?" The maiden barked fretfully. There it was again. Her difficulty controlling her temper when she was tired. "Why do you bother me with that? Just give them clearance and be done with it."

"Umm...I'm sorry but the pilot has asked to see you once he's landed, sir." The voice replied, now sounding a bit flustered. "So I thought..."

"Fine." Cyra cut the other woman off. "Tell the pilot I'll meet him at the airlock."

As the marine on the other end confirmed the order, the young Asari already took fresh underwear and a uniform out of the locker. She still felt a little stiff so she did a couple of push-ups between putting on the different pieces of clothing. Well, three hours of sleep, even on a chair was better than nothing, she mused. Possibly the woman on duty in the control centre had even spared her the nightmares by waking her prematurely.

Cyra puffed in annoyance as the walked out of her cabin. She didn't feel like playing the welcome committee at all. This pilot had better have a really good reason for making her hustle through the base. It was still dark outside although one could see a faint shimmer of light on the horizon. She wasn't particularly keen meeting the pilot but she was reasonably curious as to what kind of ship her uncle had sent. Amongst other things, he also was the head of the alliance R&amp;D department after all and had access to all sorts of crazy technology.

The maiden tried to rub the weariness out of her eyes then began to jog through the empty grey corridors. To kill time and keep herself awake she did some gymnastic exercises after she'd reached the airlock, doing so with enough gusto that she was actually sweating quite a bit when she finally heard the faint howl of powerful engines. At first she only saw a vague black shape when she stared into the twilight. As it got closer and closer, Cyra recognized more and more details. The craft somewhat reminded her of a gunship. It had vectored engines, mounted on stubby wings, a cockpit in the nose with a turret underneath just like those. However it was larger, at least two, three times the size of a regular gunship and it was also obviously FTL capable. Something gunships normally weren't.

All in all the spacecraft looked very aggressive, heavily armed and it also seemed to be highly manoeuvrable, the maiden noticed as the pilot brought it around to set it down at the landing pad. Good. Anything that would pose a problem for these damned mercs was good. She impatiently walked around the small chamber, watching the pilot exit the ship via a ramp on its rear. What the heck could be so important that this guy needed to talk to her right now? Took his sweet time too the bastard, strolling towards and the airlock as if he was taking a Sunday afternoon walk in the park. She could see the insignia of a flight Lieutenant emblazoned on the space suit as the Human entered the pressure chamber. Good, then she wouldn't get into trouble yelling at him, which she was half thinking of doing once the inner door opened.

"Hey Shep." The familiarity of the greeting caught Cyra flat-footed and she frowned at the man as he took his helmet off. "Why so serious?"

"Murph!?" The frown vanished from the maiden's face making way for an expression of utter bewilderment as she recognized her former team's pilot. For a second she didn't know what to say, instead gawking at flight Lieutenant Scott Murphy as if he was some kind of alien from Andromeda.

"Oh come on." The Human grinned broadly. "I don't look _that_ bad, do I?"

"Holy shit!" Cyra exclaimed after she was finally able to overcome the shock. "How are you doing, man!?" It was now Murphy's turn to be caught off guard as the maiden drew him in for a crushing bear hug.

"Gee, Shep." He coughed, catching his breath after the Asari had released him. "Take it easy will ya? I'm just a humble pilot, not one of you leathernecks." He was half a head shorter than Cyra and also rather on the scrawny side.

"Sorry. It's just so good to see your ugly mug here." The maiden gave Murphy a playful slap on the back and snickered merrily. For the first time in a while she could at least momentarily forget the whole plight, her spirits being raised immeasurably by the appearance of an old friend.

"Yeah, I missed you too, Shep." The human grinned impishly.

"How about we get ourselves a coffee or something? I certainly could use one."

"Sure." The pilot smiled. "It's only going to be water for me though. I'll need to catch me some sleep so anything caffeinated is a no go right now."

"Suit yourself." Cyra gave the Human a gentle nudge towards the door. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"So." The young Asari began after the two officers had sat down at a table in the mess, her holding a coffee mug, him a plastic cup. "What are you doing out here, Murph? I heard something about you being grounded...?"

"I was." The pilot blankly stared into his cup for a moment. "Wasn't exactly having the time of my life there for a while." He said. "Anyway then your errr... your uncle gave me this chance. Apparently having a cybernetic limb..." Murphy patted his lower right leg with an ironic smirk. "...isn't a problem for a test pilot but one can't fly in a front line unit like that. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense but hey, regs right?"

"Yeah, tell me about it." Cyra snorted. Almost involuntarily she took a glance at the fighter jockey's shin. "If you don't mind me asking: How is it anyway?"

"Oh, the leg?" Murphy shrugged. "Took a bit getting used to but now I barely feel the difference anymore. Got to be a bit more careful when I'm asking a lady for a dance though."

Cyra snickered softly. "Living it up are ya, Murph?"

"Hey, I've been deployed on ships and bases along the fringe long enough." The pilot grinned boyishly. "Now that I'm stationed on a core world...well, I'd be stupid not to take advantage wouldn't I?"

"Indeed." Cyra took a sip from her mug. "I'm afraid I can't offer you much in the way of distraction here though."

"Oh that's quite all right." Murphy replied, his grin waning a bit. "After all that's not what I'm here for."

"You know about the situation?"

"I've been fully briefed." The Pilot confirmed with a nod. "I know the score."

"That's good." It was now Cyra's turn to blankly stare and the conversation died down briefly. "So tell me a bit about your ship, Murph. What can it do?"

"She's a very special lady, I can tell you that." The maiden briefly wondered just why Humans insisted to speak about ships in the same terms as if they were talking about women but she said nothing. Instead she listened attentively, and not without a fair bit of amusement, as the flight Lieutenant raved about his new 'girl'. Some of the technical details went completely over her head, of course, but she got a fairly decent idea of what the spacecraft could and couldn't do. If it was only half as good as the fighter jock claimed it to be...Well, she could certainly use some good news for a change. There was one thing that bothered her though.

"Murph, you said you were a test pilot now." She said, exploiting a short lapse in the conversation. "Are you saying your 'lady' is a prototype? Do we have to reckon with technical problems? Cause in my experience..."

She let her voice die off as Murphy firmly shook his head. "She ain't a prototype, she's a pre-production model." He said. "Ever since the Admiral got me this job, I've been working with the engineers to iron out all the small problems you inevitably get with a brand new craft. I've putting her through her paces pretty much around the clock those last couple of weeks and didn't encounter anything but one _really _minor glitch. So don't worry, she ain't gonna quit on us and..." The pilot's grin became roguish. "...in case those mercs throw any more gunships at us, my baby will eat them alive."

"Thats good to hear." Cyra emptied her mug with one last sip as she checked the time. In just over an hour she was supposed to take the special squad out for another exercise but she was thinking of changing the program, now that their transport was here. As she weighed the pros and cons of the different options in her mind she became aware that Murphy was looking at her expectantly. "I'm sorry, what did you say again?"

"Are you all right?" The pilot was obviously concerned, noticing her exhaustion. The maiden had once saved his life, carrying his useless husk out of a primeval forest after a crash landing. He'd checked the map later. Cyra and her team had hauled his ass to safety through about fifty kilometres of some of the roughest terrains he'd ever seen. They'd risked being detected and hunted down, stealing a vehicle at a research outpost to get him to a hospital and because the universe was so awfully just most of them were dead now.

"Are _you_ all right Murph?" The maiden said instead of an answer when she saw the gloomy look on his face.

"Yeah..." The pilot swallowed hard. "I was, you know...I was thinking of the guys."

"I see." Silence hung heavy in the air as the Lieutenants remembered, their immediate problems momentarily forgotten. "Have you heard anything from Romy lately?" Cyra asked eventually.

"Yeah, I talked to her..." He wrinkled his brow as he tried to recollect when he'd spoken to the former medic. "...about a month ago?"

"How is she doing?" The maiden asked, feeling a little ashamed that she hadn't thought of getting in touch with the young woman.

"Good from what I could tell, from what she said. She did seem happy enough." Murphy smirked whimsically. "The pretty thing is starting to look more and more like a whale though. Said she feels like one too."

Cyra cackled faintly. "It's nine months for Humans, right?"

"Yup."

"Should happen pretty soon then, or?"

"I guess so." Murphy seemed to be a little uncomfortable with the subject.

The maiden sighed. "At least one good thing came out of this godawful mess." She muttered more to herself than to the fighter jockey.

"Yeah." There was another prolonged silence before Murphy spoke up once more, completely changing the subject. "But anyway, you already have a plan as to how I can help you guys after I've taken my beauty sleep?"

"Well, how long do you need to rest?"

"After a flight like the one behind me?" The pilot contemplated for a second. "Regs say ten hours, but I can be ready in eight. No problem."

"Ten hours is fine." Cyra said with a wave of her hand. "I was thinking of giving my people a bit of a breather anyway." The Human opened his mouth to say something but she already continued. "For starters I was thinking of doing a bit of zero-g training out there." She pointed upwards. "Practising to with suit thrusters, entering and exiting the ship, that sort of thing. Something that's not too physically demanding, you know. I've been riding the boys and girls pretty hard these last few days."

"You've been riding yourself pretty hard too by the looks of it." Murphy observed. "I know it's none of my business but you could use a break by the looks of it. You look awful."

"Great." Cyra smirked. "You know you're the second guy, telling me that in the last couple of hours?" She let out an ironic snort. "Just what a girl likes to hear."

"Look, I'm not your dad..."

"Murph, not now." The maiden growled, unwilling to listen to the same arguments again. "You go get some sleep and let me worry about my own sanity."

The pilot's eyes followed Cyra as she stood up and put her cup into the nearby cleanser. "Okay, okay." He shrugged as he stood up shouldering his duffel bag. "Tell me where to go to get a room assigned and I'll be out of your hair."

Cyra gave him directions on the way out of the canteen, checking the time once more to make sure the Gunnery Chief was actually supposed to be on duty at this time. "Gee, it's good to have you here, Murph." She said, giving him another hug as he was about to head off.

"Glad to be here, Shep." The pilot grinned, stifling another yawn.

"Sweet dreams."

"You too."

"Oh bugger off!"

Cyra's eyes followed the fighter jock as he laughed and scurried away, shaking her head in amusement.

"Cyra?" At first the maiden didn't recognise Rose and she had to restrain the urge to rub her eyes with surprise when she did. Her usually beautiful red hair dull and unkempt, her green eyes bloodshot and her skin even more pale than usual, the Human looked awful. Looked so bad in fact that the maiden reconsidered changing today's schedule and try to get some more sleep 'cause if she looked only half as bad as the Human...

"Rose?" She said, mindful not to ogle the redhead. "Can I help you?"

"I've found something." The student said with a slight slur. She was so tired she even had difficulties talking properly. "In the files."

* * *

That's it for now.

Take care.


	12. Chapter 12

"Bottom line." Rose mumbled after a couple of minutes of explaining. "Somebody cracked the base security protocols and disabled the monitoring and recording software of the comm system on four separate occasions. Each time the routines were offline for three to five minutes then re-engaged."

"Any idea who did it?"

"Not yet, no." The ginger replied. "And I can't tell you exactly how it happened either. I just wanted to..." Rose was so tired she lost the thread mid sentence and struggled to take it up again. "Where was I?" She muttered. "Oh right. I wanted to tell you right away. Yes that was it."

"How many people know about this?" Cyra asked, eyeing the student with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"Only myself and this guy this..." Rose tried to remember the name but it wouldn't come to her mind. "Ashley's biggest fan." She said instead, breaking out in a fit of hysterical giggling.

"Watanabe?"

"Yep, that's the guy." The redhead slurred. "He's been helping me from time to time."

"He's supposed to be sacked out." The maiden morosely said more to herself than to Rose. "What the heck does he think he's doing?"

"He's still looking through the system. I should...Yes, I should go back and help him."

Cyra stopped the ginger by gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're going nowhere but to your bed, Rose."

"But...but I need to..."

"But me no buts!" The maiden gave the smaller girl what she thought was a gentle nudge but Rose almost fell over and Cyra had to grab her.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?" Rose slurred as the Asari picked her up.. "Put me down, I can walk..." The young Human fell silent as her head sank onto Cyra's shoulder.

"Don't think so." The maiden smiled as the student's features relaxed, her breathing becoming regular. It was a this very moment that she reached the decision to call off the morning exercise and get some more sleep herself, Rose's dreadful state serving as a warning not to overdo it. Not without some difficulties she got the door to the girl's room open and put her down on the bed. It felt a little weird undressing the ginger down to her t-shirt and underpants before covering her with the blanket. She shut off the lights and tiptoed out of the room, activating her omni-tool after the door closed behind her. "Chief are you there?"

"Of course I'm here." Came the sulky answer, immediately followed by: "I mean, yes Sir, I'm here, Sir!"

The maiden almost laughed out loud. Somebody sure was moody this morning. In a few short sentences she informed the NCO about the change in plans and ordered her to notify everyone it concerned. Next she tried to call Kenji to tell him to get some rest but he Private didn't answer. It looked like he'd disabled his comm unit. Cyra frowned. It technically wasn't mandatory for the marines to keep their communicators switched on during their off duty hours but from what she'd seen so far no one ever seemed to have disabled his or hers. Ah well, if she had to drag the Private's ass to his room herself so be it. If he was still looking through the records he was probably in the ops centre. However when she called the marine on duty there she was told that he wasn't around any more. "He said something about going for a walk outside, Sir." The soldier mentioned.

Shaking her head in disbelief Cyra hastened through the narrow hallways towards the airlock. If she didn't catch him before he exited the base she'd have to send someone outside to look for him. She certainly didn't fancy putting on her own suit just for that.

"Hold it right there!" Kenji, who was about to enter the airlock, flinched when he heard his platoon leader's voice, cracking like a whip behind him.

"Sir?" He slowly turned around. "Is something wrong, Sir?"

"Is something wrong?" Cyra echoed tartly. "You're supposed to be in your rack, Private, not nosing through some files or going on a hike, that's what's wrong."

"I couldn't sleep, Sir." Kenji reluctantly took his helmet off. "So I thought I might as well make myself useful and then..." His eyes darted towards the airlock. "...well, I just wanted to be alone for a while, Sir."

"Be that as it may." The maiden's voice softened. "I need you to be rested, so go to your quarters and try again, if you please."

"But it's less than an hour until..."

"There's been a change of program, so you..." Cyra interrupted herself when she noticed Kenji nervously playing with his helmet. "Are you all right, Private?" She asked, eyeing him more closely. He seemed to be awfully tense, almost fearful.

"No S...I mean yes Sir." Kenji struggled with his words. "It's just...the whole thing kinda scares me, Sir. I mean, first the attack and now this 'special detail', essentially preparing for war...I never thought...I may have to shoot at anybody." He grinned weakly. "I know what you're going to say. 'Hey dude why did you join the marines then huh?' I know it sounds stupid but somehow I never thought it'd come to that. We live in peace time after all."

Cyra swallowed down the cynical comment that came to her mind when Kenji talked about peace time. "You want to be taken off the detail, Private?" She asked instead.

"No! No, for heaven's sake no!" The maiden was reasonably surprised by the intensity of Kenji's reaction. "I want to do this, Sir, I want to help getting the hostages out but I have to admit I'm somewhat nervous about it."

The maiden put her hand on the privates shoulder. Her experiences forbade her to say something like 'you're going to be fine'. "Private you need to get some rest." She said instead. "If you really can't sleep, go down to the infirmary and have the medic give you a sleeping pill." Somewhere in the back of her mind Cyra wondered why the hell she hadn't thought of doing that herself when she'd had trouble sleeping earlier.

"Aye aye, Sir." The Human saluted.

"Off you go then." The maiden patted Kenji on the back as he walked away.

That hadn't been very reassuring she knew that but what was she supposed to say? Some nice sounding but empty phrases? Some hollow platitudes, that would go right out the window anyway once the bullets started to fly? No fucking thank you! According to her dad, soldiers who openly admitted to being afraid were rarely the ones who snapped and panicked under fire though, so that was at least a good sign, she hoped. Still she would have to keep an eye on the private. She had the distinct feeling that he hadn't told her everything.

Cyra shook her head and pushed these thoughts aside. She could worry about that later. Right now, just like the Private, she had an appointment with her mattress. The maiden had to admit she was looking forward to get some more rack time. However on her way back to her cabin she got several calls about the new schedule and a few minor problems around the base. It took her about an hour to get everything organised. When she finally did get to her room she activated her radio, addressing all call signs active at the time to warn them that anybody who called her in the next couple of hours outside of a real emergency would find him- or herself on cleaning duty until further notice. Then she disrobed and fell on her bed face down. This time she fell asleep immediately.

* * *

There was a faint hiss as the dropship's ramp lowered. Cyra watched her marines exiting the craft with a smile on her face. She felt way more energized than she had in a long time. The additional sleep had certainly helped but more importantly she'd actually had fun. Even in basic training she'd enjoyed space walking immensely. To hover about weightlessly, the suit's thrusters providing complete freedom of movement was always a great experience to the maiden. Especially close to a planet. This rock certainly wasn't the most beautiful of worlds but it still had been an awe inspiring sight from low orbit.

Cyra couldn't help but snicker softly as her eyes followed her soldiers, waiting for Murphy to finish the shut down procedure. Some of the marines hadn't enjoyed themselves quite as much, especially not Kelly. The colossal woman had struggled to keep herself stable for most of the walk, apparently suffering from mild disorientation. Nothing unusual really. Zero-G exercises were part of basic and advanced infantry training but afterwards, space walking was rarely practised during a marine's daily routine. It was only natural some of the men and women under her command would need some time to get a hang of it again.

"How did it go?" Murphy asked to her left, typing the flight time and a few notes into his personal log.

"Not too bad, all things considered." Cyra said. "They were out of practice of course. Got a few minor problems here and there."

"Yeah, I've heard." The pilot grinned. "The tall one, Johanson is it? Man, she's got a filthy mouth that woman."

"She does." The maiden cackled. "But no more than any other marine, I can tell you that."

"That's why I love you leathernecks." Murphy shook his head in amusement and stepped off the ramp. "But for a future teacher..."

"Hm?"

"I actually had a pretty interesting conversation with her this morning – I mean, you know _my _morning – and she said something about wanting to be a teacher after her service." The pilot explained. "You know that the woman has a PhD?"

"As a matter of fact I do."

"Gee, I would have loved to have such a teacher." Murphy chuckled as the two officers strolled towards the base. "A teacher with a mouth like that? Would have been right up us kids' alley. Our parents would have screamed bloody murder I imagine, but still." He shook his head again. "Fascinating girl." He mumbled.

"Hey, I may be able to arrange something if you, you know..." Cyra had to bite her tongue in order to not laugh out loud. For a split second Murphy actually seemed to think she was serious.

"Oh bugger off, Shep!" He exclaimed when he realised that she was just teasing.

"No seriously, I bet I could..." The Asari's response got cut short by snorts of laughter as Muphy playfully punched her in the shoulder. Ah, it was good to be able to forget everything and just giggle, even if it was only for a moment.

"Anyway." Murphy noisily cleared his throat after the laughter had died down. "Where were we?"

"I believe we were talking about that some of my people had some difficulties with the space walking." Cyra couldn't resist to tease the pilot just a little more. "Amongst them your future gir...ow!" Murphy exaggeratedly rolled his eyes as he punched her again. A little harder this time.

"_Anyway._" He mumbled, trying to change the subject. "Are you planning another space walk or something like that today?"

"Not today, no." The maiden replied in earnest. "I was planning to give it another go tomorrow if that's okay with you."

"No problemo. I can go up several times a day if needed." He shrugged with a wide gesture towards the scenery. "It's not like there's a whole else for me to do here."

"Yeah." Cyra patted the pilot on the back. "Come on, let's get some chow."

* * *

A few minutes later, Kelly stumbled into her cabin. Fighting the nausea she leaned against the wall, hoping against hope that the dizzy feeling would go away soon.

"Are you okay?" Corporal Cynthia Guzzman wondered as she entered right after the Amazon. Room assignments had been shuffled around after the special detail had been formed in order not to impair the daily routine of the rest of the marines. The two of them had only been room mates for a couple of days and didn't know one another's traits all to well just yet.

"Yeah, I'm just fine." Kelly growled despite the fact that her sense of balance still hadn't fully recovered from the space walk. This goddamn vertigo was killing her.

"Are you sure?" The medic insisted.

"Of course I...!" The heavy weapons specialist began to shout, then suddenly bolted back out the door and towards the communal toilet. Raising her eyebrows Guzzman followed as she began to suspect what the problem was. She couldn't see the colossal woman when she entered the coolly lit room but the sound of someone puking her guts out was unmistakeable.

"For crying out loud." Kelly muttered when she emerged out of one of the small booths with a sour look on her face. The medic watching, she rinsed her mouth with water to get rid of the awful taste. "What are you looking at?" She demanded when she noticed her new room mate.

"Yeah, you seem to be just fine indeed." Guzzman remarked pointedly. Kelly only glared at the other woman and stomped out of the room. The medic found her rummaging through her locker. "So what's up, Johanson?" She asked. Kelly tried to ignore her but the smaller female wouldn't drop this one and activated her medical omni tool.

"Hey, point that thing some place else!" Kelly barked. She was peeved, more about herself than anything else.

"Ah, there we go." It took Guzzman only a glance at the results of the scan to determine the problem. "After effects from severe zero-g sickness."

"Not so fucking loud, dammit!" The Amazon hissed, her eyes darting towards the door.

"What's the problem?" The medic's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "It's not like that's so unusual..."

"I don't want to be taken off the strike squad!" Kelly got into a fuss and pressed her forehead against the locker door.

Guzzman blinked. She hadn't even thought about that. "That shouldn't be an issue. Just go down to sick bay and..."

"Cynthia, do me a favour and don't tell anybody about this okay? Especially not the LT. Please? Pretty please?" Inwardly cringing under the medic's suspicious gaze, Kelly's voice dropped to a whisper. "I've had this problem in basic and the regular meds aren't strong enough. I need Vasucin."

"Whoa! That's pretty hard stuff!" Cynthia's eyes widened. "You used that during basic?"

"Yeah." The Amazon nodded, ambled over to her bed and sat down, leaning against the wall. "The queasy feeling in her stomach wasn't completely gone yet and bothered her immensely. "We've got some of that in stock here, right?"

"For emergencies, yes." The medic didn't like where this was going at all. "I know what's coming. You'd like me to sneak down to the med bay and get you some of that stuff."

"Well, yes if you wouldn't mind." Said Kelly sheepishly. "Please? I would be immeasurably grateful."

"Vasucin can have pretty nasty side effects." Cynthia pointed out. "Especially for us women..."

"I'm not pregnant for fuck's sake!" The Amazon hollered but regained her composure quickly. "I've had no problems when I used that stuff in the past."

The medic eyed Kelly curiously. "Any particular reason why it's so important for you to be part of our special squad?"

"You mean other than the chance to get off this rock at least for a while?" The colossal woman said. "To be able to do anything other than watch a hole in the ground or sitting on my ass all day for a change? Other than that I don't want those bloody mercs get away with it?" There was a pregnant pause. It was fairly likely that pretty much every marine who'd volunteered for the Lieutenant's detail had similar reasons. "You know why I joined the corps in the first place?" The medic naturally shook her head. How was she supposed to know? "Because I was horrified of the notion that I may be spending basically my entire life inside a class room. Just like my parents. I guess I was being a little bit naïve, getting taken in by the recruiter but hey"

"You mean the 'see the wonder of the galaxy, it's and adventurer's life' slogans?" Cynthia laughed. "Yeah tell me about it."

"Anyway I didn't really expect to be spending my service on guard duty on the citadel and on a chunk of rock on the ass end of nowhere. You know what I mean?" The women's eyes locked for a moment. "Please?"

"But I can't just..." The medic interrupted herself. "Ah screw it." She muttered and headed for the door. "The Chief owes me a favour anyway."

* * *

"Doc, how many times are you going to ask us if we're okay?" Despite the predicament Ashley, Lien and Alex found themselves in, all three of them chuckled softly, facing one another through the transparent door.

"Sorry." The archaeologist smirked, leaning against the door frame. "I got to admit I'm running out of conversational topics. I'm afraid I didn't bring my copy of 'Fifty things to talk about in captivity'."

The three of them had only a vague idea as to how long they'd been held captive so far. At some point they'd all been blindfolded and pushed, stumbling through the corridors of the ship and to the rooms they were now in. Whether those rooms were on another ship, a space station or a planet they had no idea. Having no real day/night cycle, the only thing regular about their days were the meals they were brought. However those were brought at such irregular intervals that Ashley, Alex and Lien were having major difficulties keeping track of the time.

"Wonder if such a book actually exist." Ashley grinned.

"If it doesn't, it certainly should." Alex noted. "I say we begin to take notes and write a book ourselves once we're out of here. Sell millions of copies and get rich. How's that?"

"Good plan." The young Asari snickered. "I like it."

"I wonder where we are." Lien's soft voice eventually broke the brief silence that followed. It was another one of these questions that'd been asked several times before and the young woman of course knew that she wasn't going to get a definitive answer but she couldn't help it.

"Well, we were on the ship, what? Two days or something?." The scientist wrinkled his forehead. He really only answered to keep the conversation going. "They didn't drive us around in citadel space, I expect so I guess we're somewhere in the terminus systems." He sighed faintly. Every time he mentioned the terminus, the girls seemed to get flustered. "Hey, it's not all bad out there in the terminus. There's more going on here than just pirates, smugglers and other cutthroats. It's not like in the vids."

"Have you been to the terminus before, doc?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Been to?" Alex shook his head faintly. "I grew up here."

"What?" Two sets of eyes went wide as the young women gaped at the scientist. Now _that _was a topic that hadn't come up before.

"Oh don't look at me like that, will you?" The archaeologist alternated between amusement and annoyance. "Not everyone living in the terminus is a raving, raping, murdering psychopath."

"Of course not, doc." Ashley assured the scientist hurriedly. "Nobody claims that."

"You'd be surprised how many people think precisely that, young lady. They just unwittingly assume those brain dead action flicks, they see in the holodromes, are an accurate depiction of reality." Alex snorted with a cynical smirk. "Which is why I'm not hanging a lantern on it. I've had too many dates and conversations cut short when I mentioned my background."

There was an uncomfortable silence before the maiden spoke up again. "So err..." Ashley stumbled. "Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking? Some run down space station on the galactic rim? Some wild and untamed planet constantly threatened by pirate raids?"

"Nothing that romantic, I'm afraid." Alex rolled his eyes excessively. "I'm from Horizon and no, there hasn't been a single pirate raid I know of when I lived there. From what I know, independent pirate gangs have been decimated during the last couple of decades. As it happens, having ships and planets constantly raided is bad for business, which in turn tends to bother the people with the money. That certainly isn't different from citadel space."

"I see."

"Oh don't get me wrong, there are a couple of really lawless regions, that are basically not important enough for any of the bigshots to care about but those are easily avoided."

"Sounds like we've just found ourselves a topic to talk about, doctor." Ashley smiled faintly.

"Indeed we have." The scientist agreed. "Indeed we have."

"Why did come to citadel space anyway, doctor?" Lien asked a while later.

"Well, the choice of universities is somewhat limited in the terminus." Alex said with an ironic smirk. "And if you want to study archaeology or anything else that's not the scientific mainstream, your options narrow down to pretty much zero."

"Do you have any siblings, doc?" Ashley asked when the conversation threatened to die down.

"Yeah, a younger sister, married to some corporate executive."Alex said with just the barest hint of a sneer. "Couple of moths back there was actually a bit of a ruckus surrounding her husb...Hey what's that?"

"Huh?" The young women were at a loss, first looking at each other then at the scientist in bewilderment. "What do you mean, doc?" He didn't answer. Instead he absently stared at a point behind them. Turning around to see what was so interesting, Ashley and Lien were amazed to find the room's computer console active, displaying the word '**Hello'** in large, yellow letters. "What the heck...?" The Asari maiden muttered. She took a quick glance at the console in the doctor's room but that one was still inactive. The others watching Ashley curiously walked over to the console, stared at the glowing letters for a moment. After throwing a quick look over her shoulder the maiden sat down and typed in '**Hello?'**

**'What is your name?' **Appeared on the screen a second later.

The maiden was taken aback by the question and wondered whether someone was playing some kind of cruel game with her. **'My name is Ashley.' **She nonetheless punched in the holographic keyboard after a moment of thinking, vaguely aware that Lien was watching over her shoulder. **'Who are you?'**

**'Ah, so it _is_ you, miss Shepard.' **Ashley and Lien exchanged an incredulous look as they gaped at the screen. **'I hope, I'm correct in the assumption that Lien is the other person in the room and doctor Gordon is the one in the adjacent room?'**

"Charlie is that you?" The maiden blurted out, forgetting to answer the AI's question. Behind the women, Alex asked what was going on but neither of them took notice, their eyes fixed on the screen before them.

**'Yes, it is me.'** Came the response. **'But would you mind typing in your questions? Audio streaming puts quite the dent into the bandwidth I currently have to work with, I'm afraid.'**

"Oh, of course." Ashley said out loud, paused to shake her head at her own stupidity and went back to typing. **'How can you talk to us anyway? Did you manage to modify the mobile unit's hardware or something?'**

**'Sadly no.' **Charlie replied and proceeded to give the maiden a very brief and simplified run down of what he'd done. He didn't repeat his earlier question. The AI figured if it was not as he suspected the Asari would have said so. **'I was only able to transfer a handful of programs over to our new domicile before the ship was powered down. You have no idea how long it took me to gain some basic control over these systems.' **

**'Can you tell us where we are?' **Lien took over the keyboard momentarily.

The picture and some basic data of a planet appeared on the screen, followed by a map of galaxy with a small section highlighted. According to this they were on a jungle world in the Attican Traverse not too far away from citadel space.

**'Hang on a moment.' **Came a message from Charlie as the young Human was about to type in another question. **'Someone is coming your way. Shutting down the console.'**

"What the heck is going on?" Alex hissed as the girls hastily stepped away from the computer terminal. Throwing uneasy glances toward the door they sauntered over to the scientist and gave him an update in a hushed tone. "We're on Pragia?" The archaeologist whispered just loud enough so that he could be heard through the door.

"Been here before, doc?" Ashley asked softly, briefly making sure that no one was watching them through the door or anything.

"Heard of it." Alex shook his head. "It's supposed to be a hideout for all kinds of riffraff. There aren't any regular settlements there...here 'cause the local plant life's hyper growth makes maintaining buildings an absolute pain. Or so I've read anyway."

"Well, at least now we know where we are." Lien mumbled, smiling weakly.

"Yeah, one topic less to talk about, huh?" Replied in a weak attempt of humour. "If only we could let somebody know." He hesitated for a moment. "Gee I wouldn't even know who to call."

"I'd just call my dad, of course." Ashley said, smirking at the scientist quizzical expression. "But..."

"The console is back up." Alex cut in with a nod. "Maybe Charlie can do something?"

"If he could he probably already had." The maiden said as she followed Lien back to the terminal. "But who knows..."

**'Indeed I had.' **The AI replied after being asked the question. **'This facility has no connection to the outside world, I'm afraid. However that may not be necessary.'**

"What do you..." Ashley began then interrupted herself again and smack her own forehead in annoyance. **'What do you mean?'**

**'I've listened to a conversation between the professor and one of the mercenaries.' **The AI replied. **'Apparently they want to 'get you home''**

"What!?" Lien exclaimed.

"Not so loud!" Ashley snapped although she could understand the other female's excitement. **'They want to let us go?' **She typed in with slightly trembling hands.

**'Only you, miss Shepard, as far as I heard.' **Came the disappointing answer from the AI. **'I'm afraid I have no information as regards to what they plan to do with Lien and doctor Gordon.'**

**'But I can't just prance off and leave you and the others behind.' **Ashley protested after one look at the other woman's face.

**'I wasn't under the impression that our hosts were planning to give you a choice in the matter, miss Shepard.' **Charlie replied. **'And even if they did I'd suggest you did leave us behind, if only to get word of our location to a possible rescue team. After all, they aren't aware that you have any knowledge of the location of this facility.'**

"Charlie's right, you know." Lien spoke up, trying to put on a brave face.

"But..."

**'I've prepared a dossier on this location for you to take back home with you. The layout of the structure, how many guards there are and where the usually are. Things like that.' **The text was replaced by several dozen screens filled with all kinds of data.

"Not so fast, I can't possibly memorize all this!" Ashley protested loudly, desperately trying to make at least some sense of the mass of information hailing down on her.

**'I...' **There was a noticeable pause before the next bit of text appeared on the screen. **'I'm aware of that, miss Shepard, and I do have a solution but it might put you at risk.'**

The maiden's stomach tensed up. **'What would that be?'**

**'I know where the mercenaries have a small storage unit, filled with mobile data drives. OSDs I believe you call them. I could unlock your door so that you could go and get one of them. The majority of the outlaws in this facility are asleep at this time an I should be able to guide you to the proper place. You'll just have to find a place to hide the drive in case they search you.'**

**'That shouldn't be a problem.'** Ashley typed in although she felt awfully uneasy about this. **'Let me think about it for a moment okay?'**

**'Of course.'**

"What's up?" Alex asked as the girls walked over. His eyes widened when the maiden brought him up to speed. "That's crazy." The scientist exclaimed. "Doesn't Charlie know what they could do to you?"

"He knows it'd put me at risk." Ashley said, absently gnawing on her lip as she weighed the pros and cons. She dreaded the possibility getting caught while snooping around but she absolutely didn't want those damnable mercs or that traitorous piece of shit of a professor to get away with what they were doing. After a few more moments of thinking she reached her decision. "I'm going."

"Are you mad? It's way too dangerous." The archaeologist snapped heatedly and proceeded to list all the things that might go wrong, possible consequences included. "Just...just memorize the most important things and take those home with you."

"Doc, I'm not a military expert." Ashley said flatly. "But the more information I can take out of here, the better the chance a rescue team can get the two of you out of here unscathed, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, but..."

"I'm going, doc." The young Asari's face took on a more and more determined look, the longer she thought about the situation.

"Let me go instead..." The scientist began but Ashley cut him off.

"Doc, I'm the one who's apparently lucky enough to be sent home." She stated firmly. "So I may as well be the one who gets that bloody OSD. It's no more dangerous for me than it would be for you."

"Are you sure about that?" Alex said. "If I'm getting caught I at least won't get raped or anything."

"Maybe not." Ashley swallowed laboriously. "But they might just shoot you." The archaeologist wanted to say something but she wouldn't let him. "I don't think they'd shoot me. Not if they're willing to go through the trouble of shipping me back to citadel space." Despite the serious nature of their subject the maiden couldn't help but grin. "And if I let you catch a bullet, my big sis is never going to forgive me."

"She'll never forgive _me_ either if..."

"Yes she will." The maiden quickly interjected before Alex could say the ugly word again. "She knows that I can be a bit of a bullhead sometimes."

The scientist smiled weakly. "I really can't dissuade you from doing this can I?"

"No, doc you can't." The maiden's grin faltered a little. Then the took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "I better get it over with."

Feeling Alex's and Lien's gazes sting in her back she quickly walked back to the terminal. She wanted to get out the door before prudence could change her mind. **'I'll do it.'** She simply typed into the holographic keyboard.

**'I see' **The AI responded. **'I will only be able to communicate with you through the monitors and the lights but I will guide you the best I can. Keep in mind though that with such a limited bandwidth I can only keep an eye on a very small part of the base around you. Be prepared to react quickly, understood?'**

**'Understood.' **Ashley was painfully aware of her wildly beating heart. **'I'll go out the door now.'**

The maiden flinched when the door closed behind her with a hiss. For a second Ashley just stood there motionlessly and questioned her own sanity. Who was she trying to fool, playing the heroine? She was just a bloody student, not some highly trained covert agent. Doubtfully she looked up and down the grey hallway. Things looked exactly the same both ways. What direction was she supposed to go anyway? Charlie hadn't...

Suddenly all the lights down the corridor to her left went out. After a moment's hesitation she turned right and slowly began moving through the lit part of the hall, trying to make as little noise as possible. A short message appeared as she passed a wall mounted monitor. **'Apologies for the delay.' **It said. **'I had to put the data feed to the facility's security room on a loop and it took me a little longer than I would have liked. - Charlie -.**

The short text didn't show it but perched on a desk in his mobile housing, the AI became more and more frustrated by the limitations of the connection. Plugged in the base net he could have taken control of everything literally in a nanosecond. But no, he had to work with a set of technologies that were never meant to transmit binary information, making it awfully difficult just to manipulate a handful of video signals. It felt like everything he did, all the information he received, had to pass through a tiny bottleneck inside a massive block of awfully sticky jelly. It was maddening. He disabled a set of lights to let the young Asari know which way she was supposed to go. _'Hey look! I can switch lights on and off. Whoopie-fucking-do!'_

Moving though the corridors, Ashley had her own set of problems. She tried to listen for signs of danger. Muffled conversations, sound of movement and the like. However her heart seemed to be beating so loudly that the maiden was actually afraid somebody might hear it through a wall. That everything had been quiet so far, paradoxically didn't placate her at all. She began to think that the mercs were just waiting for her somewhere. Every time she walked around a corner Ashley half expected to run into a patrol or something along those lines.

The maiden nearly had a heart attack when, out of the blue, all the lights in the hallway went out. As she stood there petrified, not knowing what to do, she heard voices ahead of her. To her left there was a soft clicking sound then a door slid open, revealing a small chamber filled with all kinds of contraptions. The lights in the tiny room were blinking conspicuously. Desperation made the decision an easy one and Ashley lunged into the coop, almost tripping over some kind of cleaning robot. As the door slammed shut, she nervously listened trying to figure out what was happening out there.

"...the heck is wrong with the light?" She heard a muted voice say.

"No idea." Another said. "Lots of things malfunctioning in this place though." There was muffled chuckling coming through the wall. "Apparently yesterday the electronic of some of the toilet flushes threw a hissy fit. I didn't see it but some of the guys claimed it was quite a mess." The mercs guffawed. They seemed to be relaxed enough so they weren't looking for her or expecting any kind of trouble. Her heartbeat steadied somewhat. Nevertheless the maiden barely dared to breathe as she heard them walking past the door to her little hiding place.

"Man this place sucks." The maiden continued to listen as the voices outside slowly faded out. "There's nothing to bloody do here. Can't wait to get back to our..."

About a minute later the door opened again and Ashley hastily stepped out of the cramped room. "Thank you, Charlie." She whispered as she resumed, following the lights. Although she was still tense, the maiden wasn't nearly as on the edge as she'd been before the close encounter. It took her a further five minutes to get to the proper place and find an appropriate OSD. Fortunately she didn't run into any more mercenaries on the way back to 'her' room. She was surprised when she started to tremble profusely after the adrenaline subsided. She had to give the OSD to Lien to copy the files, herself sitting down on the bed.

"Geez..." She managed to say after a while. "I hope I'll never have to do something like that again."

* * *

That's it for the moment.

The next chapter may take a bit longer. I need a little break.

Take care.


	13. Chapter 13

Howdy folks.

Next chapter is finally here. Apologies for the delay. Took me a little longer to get my ass back in gear again, than I'd thought.

* * *

Operations Chief Charlton stared into the darkness and waited. Just like he'd done dozens of times ever since he'd been relocated to this dreary dwarf planet. There it was: Somewhere in the distance a massive engine lit up, spewing hot plasma into the void of space to make minute corrections to the planet's rotation. It was necessary because their station always needed to be pointed in a certain direction for on the other side of the huge dead rock there was a monster waiting the distance.

The red super giant Betelgeuse was both the reason for this outpost's existence and it's biggest menace. For decades the scientific community had wanted to study the massive star but all earlier attempts of getting an observation satellite anywhere nearly close enough had produced dissatisfactory results. The technical marvels just hadn't been able to withstand Betelgeuse's radiation long enough. Building a space station had been deemed way too expensive to build and maintain out here. It had seemed that the astronomers would have to make do, studying the star with the instruments they got until someone, by some miracle, had discovered this chunk of rock orbiting the red giant at a distance of just under then billion kilometres.

The Chief shook his head as he thought about it. He had only a very basic understanding of astronomy and found it hard to accept the effort the eggheads were willing to go through just to get a closer look at Betelgeuse. They had drilled a 2500 kilometer long tunnel right through the middle of the dwarf planet, connecting the outpost with the array of sensors on the other side. They had even built a small maglev train to take the scientists to the hardware to make repairs every couple of weeks.

Charlton shrugged. As far as he was concerned that money could have been used to much greater effect elsewhere but then again he was just a dumb ass grunt. Who was he to tell the bigshots how to use their money? Ah well. It was a decent enough posting for his last couple of months in the corps. The only real task the handful of marines here had was to ensure that the transport ship was properly maintained and always ready to go. After all Betelgeuze was in the final stages of it's existence and would go supernova at some point. As to when it was going to happen, no one was really sure. Some said it would happen within the next hundred thousand years. Others claimed it was going to happen sooner. One of the eggheads had even claimed it could happen next week. Not that that was likely but there was no point in risking anything. If it indeed did happen they'd only have a few hours warning to get their asses out of the system.

Yeah, this post was fairly boring, the Chief thought with a ironic smile. He didn't mind. He'd had more than enough excitement in his career in the marines and had specifically requested a quiet assignment for the remainder of his service. The only problem with that was that some bright-eyed genius had sent him a new Lieutenant. Fresh out of training and as wet behind the ears as they got. Charlton sometimes wondered if the little asshole had pissed somebody off to get sent out here or if he was just unlucky. Whatever the case the greenhorn had arrived with all kinds of nonsensical ideas and the veteran NCO hadn't managed to fully expel those out of the youngster's head so far. The Chief shrugged again. He'd dealt with moronic officers before. He'd survive this one as well.

"Chief, are you there?" Charlton grimaced when the radio came alive, disturbing the peace and quiet out here. At least the voice on the other end was very pleasant.

"Yo, what's up, darlin'?" Proper protocol was usually the first thing to go out the window on a remote outpost like this one. Suited him just fine. There were barely enough marines out here to form a proper squad and model soldiers usually didn't get sent to a place like this. The lady on the other end of the line for example was here because she'd apparently been a little too friendly to an Admiral's daughter's fiancée. Charlon grinned. Yeah they hadn't been too big on formalities on this rock until the new Lieutenant had arrived. And the little shit hadn't been too successful in enforcing it again either.

"Chief?" Charlton flinched faintly as he realized he'd been sort of daydreaming. "Are you there?"

"Uh yeah, sorry." He coughed. "What was that again?"

"There's a ship approaching." The female voice said quickly. "No IFF, no transponder and it doesn't answer my hails."

The experienced NCO frowned. That certainly ruled out a resupply vessel. "What kind of ship?" He inquired. "Armed?"

"Doesn't look it. It's about the size of an average shuttle. Don't recognize the type." There was a short interruption in the transmission. "Seems to be pretty fast though. I guess it's some sort of courier vessel. Could be a smuggler. I've read something about..."

"Never mind that right now." Charlton cut in. "What's it doing?"

"It's on a landing approach, Chief." The pleasant, female voice said. "By the looks of it, it's going to set down a few klicks away." There was another brief pause. "Still no contact. Anything you want me to do about it?"

"Of course." Charlton replied sarcastically. "Pull it in with the tractor beam, then lock it down with our patented super force field and send in the laser robots to check it out."

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Chief."

"Notify HQ." Charlton sighed as his eyes scanned the starry sky. "Let's see what our mystery guest is going to do."

* * *

"Final stop." The old Turian turned to Ashley after he'd set his ship down on the surface of the small planet. "Time to get your pretty butt moving, sweetheart. You have a bit of a walk ahead of you. Don't fancy getting arrested you understand?"

"Of course, _Captain._" The maiden made no effort to hide her dislike of the ship driver as she checked her space suit once more, making certain that all the clasps were properly sealed. She couldn't wait to finally get out of this heap of junk even if it meant covering a few kilometres of barren planet surface. "Wouldn't want that to happen would we?"

"There's no need to be snide, hon." Ashley knew enough Turians to know that the smuggler wasn't out to score Brownie points. Not that it would have done him any good. The young Asari hadn't liked the pilot from the start. "Anyway off you go." He said, opening up the airlock. "Try not to lie awake at night thinking 'bout me all right?" The maiden heard him say just before the door closed behind her.

"Jackass." Ashley muttered as she went down the small ramp. Although she of course knew about it, the sudden change in gravity surprised her as she stepped off the metal plate. Her next step turned into an involuntary leap and she ended up landing on her behind. "Great." The maiden threw a look behind her as she bopped up, hoping she hadn't provided the entertainment of the day for the Turian She didn't see any sign of that, luckily. Eager to get out of the system the pilot was already taking off again and sped away leaving the Asari standing alone in the darkness.

Somewhere in the distance, Ashley guessed it to be at least eight or nine kilometres, she could see the lights of the outpost. Without an atmosphere to dampen it, the light from the distant stars was actually bright enough for her to pick a path through the rocky surface after her eyes had adjusted. Nevertheless she switched on her suit lights as she began to move towards the illuminated bunch of prefab building. The maiden figured it was better to be safe than sorry. She certainly didn't feel like breaking a leg out here.

She had no idea what system the smuggler had dumped her off in. She only knew that the lights over yonder were supposed to belong to a research camp in citadel space. The low gravity - Ashley guessed it to be ten to twenty percent of standard - took some getting used to. The maiden moved slowly and carefully at first but after a while she did get a hang of it and strode towards her goal in five meter jumps. Under different circumstances Ashley would have actually enjoyed herself, leaping across the dimly lit surface in the silence of the vacuum but right now she was too preoccupied to have fun. Her mind went back to Alex and Lien, thinking unpleasant thoughts as to what might be happening to them right now. She tried to block them off but they lingered in the back of her head, making her hurry up. The quicker she got the information to her uncle or her dad, the sooner something could be done to get her fellow hostages out.

"Hold it right there, darlin'" Ashley flinched when her suit's radio suddenly came alive in the middle of a jump. Slowing down was quite a bit more difficult than it sounded as the maiden found out, hopping and stumbling, trying to stop. The maiden looked around, trying to find the source of the transmission. "Over here, darlin'." The voice said, obviously amused by her efforts to halt. "Slightly to your right."

At first Ashley didn't see the speaker but eventually she noticed something moving a couple of hundred metres away. Aided by his armour's thrusters the figure moved towards her in huge leaps and before long the maiden, to her relief, could see alliance colours on the man's combat suit. As the soldier got closer she saw that he was holding a pistol in his hand but he wasn't aiming at her.

"Who are you?" He stopped about twenty meters away. "What are you doing here? What the hell was that ship, dropping you off?"

Ashley noticed rank insignia on his right upper arm but had no idea what kind of rank she was looking at. "Well Sergeant..."

"It's Chief if you please." The marine interjected quickly but there was no irritation in his voice.

"Sorry Chief." To say what came next was a surprise to the noncommissioned officer would have been quite the understatement. "I need a connection to unc...Admiral Moreau...and quickly."

"Excuse me, you what?"

* * *

"What the hell is taking so long?" Ashley demanded a while later, walking up and down the small room, the chief had dropped her off, in agitation. "I don't have any more time to waste!" She yelled at the closed door. For more than a day she'd been forced to listen to the Turian smuggler's stupid sexual innuendos. Then there had been the walk to the base at the end of which she'd been shoved into a room to wait for whatever. She felt guilty that she'd been the lucky one being sent home while Alex and Lien were still being held captive. The maiden got more and more indignant by the minute. The long periods with nothing to do had left the young Asari's patience hanging on a perilously thin and frayed thread. In her frustration she kicked the door several times.

"Take it easy in there, darlin'." Came through the door. "It'll take just a moment longer."

"Stop calling me darlin' all the time, you asshole!" Ashley was beginning to get really angry. "Just get me a connection already, will ya!?"

Outside the room Chief Charlton smiled to himself, almost regretting that he was spoken for. That in there would have definitely been his kind of girl otherwise. The veteran marine thought about what to do next. Once more he went over the tale, she'd told in his head. It had sounded a bit like a cock-and-bull story to him and he didn't really want to make a fool of himself bothering HQ with one of those. On the other hand the yarn was crazy enough that it just might be true. Furthermore Charlton found it unlikely that the young Asari would have herself dropped off in a restricted system just to tell a bullshit story. He activated his omni tool and logged into the outpost's wireless network. If nothing else he could at least try to verify whether the maiden really was who she claimed to be. If she really was one of Shepard's daughters, well, there really was no reason to deny her a connection.

"What is going on in there?" The Chief looked up and saw the gorgeous blonde woman, he'd talked to on the radio earlier, coming towards him. "Is that the chick who was dropped off by that ship in there or an unhappy conquest of yours?" She asked, throwing a glance through the door's small window.

"Take a guess." Charlton replied dryly. Without even realizing it himself, his eyes appreciatively ran over the blonde's feminine curves, showing underneath her uniform.

"Dream on, Chief." She smirked when she noticed his gaze. "Told you knuckleheads before: I only hunt big game."

Charlton couldn't help but chuckle. "What the heck are you even doing in the corps, McClane?"

"Everybody makes a mistake every once in a while." The woman shrugged absently, eyeing the Asari in the room curiously. "Who is she?" McClane wanted to know. "She seems familiar somehow."

"She said her name was Shepard." The Chief said. "Ashley Shepard, the..."

"Ah yes." The blonde cut in immediately. "That's it."

"You recognize her?" Charlton's eyebrows rose considerably.

"I sure do." The female marine threw her superior a quizzical look. "Don't you?"

"What do I care about celebrities?" The NCO snorted indifferently. "I couldn't pick the most famous vid stars out of a line-up on a good day."

McClane wanted to answer but Ashley leapfrogged her. "That's all very interesting, _Chief_." The maiden spat venomously, glaring at the Humans through the window. "Fascinating, really. Now get me a fucking connection!"

Charlton and McClane exchanged a quick look. "All right, miss Shepard." The Chief said. "I s'pose..."

"What the hell is going on here!?"

"Moron ten o'clock low." The blonde derogatorily muttered under her breath when she saw the Lieutenant approaching. "Closing awfully fast."

The Chief didn't say anything to that. He was busy trying not to grimace. _'And it was promising to be such a fine day.' _He thought as he put on his 'official' face. "Sir?"

"What it going on, Chief?" The young officer repeated his question as the noticed the liverish maiden impatiently thrum against the door frame. "Who is that?"

Charlton took his superior out of earshot of the maden and gave the Lieutenant a brief summary of the earlier events, purposefully leaving the Asari's name unmentioned. At one point he noticed that McClane wanted to say something but he shut her up with an inconspicuous nudge.

"Did she say what she wanted to talk to HQ for?" The officer asked with a puzzled look on his face after Charlton had ended.

"No, Sir, I'm afraid she hasn't."

The Lieutenant frowned and started walking back to the small room the Asari was being held in. "I'll get to the bottom of this." He announced cockily. "I want to know what's happening before I bother the Admiral with this."

"Yes Sir." Charlton said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards as he looked after the officer.

"What was that all about?" McClane wanted to know, raising one of her brows as she suspiciously eyed the Chief. "Why didn't you tell our fearless leader who our guest is?"

"And deny the LT the opportunity to make a fool of himself yet again?" Raynor grinned mischievously. "Come on, I gotta see this and who knows..." He paused briefly, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "...with a bit of luck we may even get rid of the little fuck."

An appreciative smile appeared on the blonde's face. "Nice one, Chief." She snickered softly. "I definitely wanna see this too. Didn't know you were such a conniving bastard."

"You don't know the half of it, darlin'" Charlton grinned. "You don't know the half of it."

* * *

"Have you lost your fucking mind?!" The Lieutenant cringed as the hologram of Admiral Moreau shouted at him. "Don't you know who she is!?"

"No Sir." The young officer swallowed. "I mean, yes Sir." He stammered. "But...but her story seemed to be somewhat unbelievable and I thought...Well, I didn't want to waste your time sir."

"You _are_ wasting my time, mister!" Joker barked irritably. "You're wasting bloody _everybody's _time right now! Get _her_ on the line right the hell now!"

"Aye, aye, Admiral." The youngster hemmed and hawed for a moment. "It's just, I thought..."

"Lieutenant! I believe I said 'right now'!" The Admiral shouted. "Get your ass moving! And for crying out loud stop thinking! You're obviously not doing it very well!"

"Yes Sir." The young man squeaked and hastily left the room. "Chief." His face flushed with embarrassment he turned to Charlton, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Get our guest up here right away. I'll be in my quarters."

"Aye Lieutenant." Despite having witnessed the entire exchange, the veteran actually managed to keep a straight face as he saluted. McClane on the other hand didn't bother to hide her schadenfreude and grinned guilelessly. The officer didn't notice any of it. Still shaken from his confrontation with the Admiral he trudged off with his head hung low. Charlton almost felt sorry for the youngster. Almost.

"And here I thought this day was going to be just as uneventful as all the others before." He said dryly, drawing a guffaw from the blonde marine.

"Yeah that was certainly worth the watch." McClane snickered merrily.

"Wasn't it?" The Chief smirked. "Anyway we better get _her _up here before the old man has our asses as well." He said. Unable to resist he added: "Would be a real shame if he chewed off your pretty butt that's for sure."

"You know nothing about my butt, buster." The gorgeous woman smiled thinly. "And that's how it's going to stay."

* * *

"Geez, kid it really is you." Joker said as Ashley stepped on the comm pad a few minutes later. His relief, seeing his niece alive and well was clearly showing on the old Human's face. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, unle." The maiden growled with a dismissive wave of one hand while holding up an OSD with the other. Although she was glad to see her father's old friend she was still in a bad mood. The occurrences of the last couple of days had undoubtedly left a mark.

"What is that?" The Admiral asked when he noticed the data stick.

"I know where they are, uncle." Ashely said breathlessly. She explained for a few minute, Joker listening attentively. When the young Asari had finished he briefly turned away and shouted some orders before facing his niece again.

"All right." The old Human said. "I set the things in motion. A ship is on the way to pick you up. Hang in there, kid. You're going home."

* * *

"Found anything new?" In a different part of the galaxy, Rose tiredly looked up from the holographic screen she'd been staring at for hours on end.

"Nope." The redhead sighed, and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "Whoever hacked into the base net and shut off the recording program knew what he was doing." The student gritted her teeth in frustration at her own lack of progress.

"Okay." Said Cyra, hiding her disappointment. "Time to take a break Rose. You look like you could use one."

"Fine." The girl sighed again. She didn't like what she perceived as sitting around idly. However she had to admit that she'd been going at this for long enough that her brain seemed to have turned to jelly.

"Come on." The Asari Lieutenant held out her hand and pulled Rose out of the chair. "Relax a bit, take a nap or listen to music or whatever you do to unbend. Those files won't run away you know."

"I suppose not."

Cyra looked up and down the ginger's frame. "And for heaven's sake get something to eat as well." She said, gently shoving Rose towards the door. "If Ashley sees you like this she'll chastise me for looking after you so poorly."

"Oh horseshit." The redhead smiled weakly.

"Well, at the very least." The maiden snickered. "I'll never hear the end of it." She gave her sister's lover another gentle nudge towards the mess hall then turned the other way.

"Cyra?"

"Hm?"

"Could you please tell that guy...Watanabe, I believe...?" Rose thought for a moment then nodded. "Yes Watanabe, could you please tell him to stop trying to help me?"

Cyra's eyes widened with surprise. "Umm... sure I guess." She said slowly. "But why?

"I'm sure he means well." Rose explained tiredly. "But most of the time he's more hindrance than help. I'd probably get more done by myself."

"Okay, I'll tell him." The maiden shrugged. "But now off you go."

Taking a break certainly had helped, that was obvious enough. Rose immediately noticed that she could concentrate much better when she sat back down at the computer. Sadly it didn't help in terms of making any serious progress. That there had been tampering with the system was obvious enough at this point. She could find evidence of it all over the system. What she couldn't find, however, was even the slightest indication as to who'd done it. She couldn't even tell whether the attack on the system had come from the outside or had been done from within the base. After staring at the various code lines for so long that the lines began to blur, the redhead stood up and scuffled back and forth in the darkened room for a bit. Moving around helped her think but sadly that didn't seem to do much good in this case either.

All of a sudden, Rose stopped dead in her tracks. There was one thing she hadn't thought of doing before though. She didn't particularly like her newest idea but it actually had some merit. "Screw it." The young woman muttered and stormed out of the room moving quickly through base towards her room. Ashley was still out there and if doing something, she wasn't entirely comfortable with, had the potential to help bringing her home then so be it. Having reached her room, the ginger immediately sat down on the computer console and called up the real-time interstellar communication protocol. The following wait didn't do her state of mind any good however and she felt tempted to stop her efforts and forget about it several times.

The redhead resisted the urge to grimace when the marine corps logo was eventually replaced by a drowsy looking, middle aged human male wearing a pyjama. Apparently her call had reached him in the middle of the night and judging by the difficulties he had, focusing his eyes on the screen before him, he hadn't gone to bed sober.

"Rose-alie?!" The man exclaimed when he'd finally recognized the caller. As tired and tipsy as he seemed to be he immediately tried to get himself into a presentable state, smoothing down his pyjama and taming his unkempt hair. "How...what...?"

"Hey, dad." Rose actually smiled when she heard her nickname from happier days. "How are you doing?" She asked dryly.

The young woman let a storm of questions wash over her, taking a few minutes to answer the most pressing ones before she got to the point of the call. "Dad." She said, after taking a deep breath. "I need a favour."

His face couldn't have looked more surprised if he'd tried. "A favour?" He asked carefully when, right at the same time, his daughter was distracted by a short blare of the base sirens, followed by a short announcement over the loudspeakers.

"Yes." Rose nodded when she realised that it had nothing to do with her. "A favour." Her father's eyes grew larger and larger as she was explaining.

* * *

"What's up?" Murphy was still straightening out his uniform when he entered Cyra's small office. He'd been rudely awakened by the sirens and hid a wide yawn behind his hand, surprised to find the maiden sitting behind her desk in full armour.

"It's happening, Murph." The young Asari said, her face neutral and business-like but the pilot thought he could hear a hint of excitement in her voice. "We got a location on these mercs. How long do you need to prep your ship? We got to leave as soon as possible."

"Whoa there, Shep." The fighter jockey raised his hands defensively. "Hold your horses."

"Something wrong?"

"Well no, everything is peachy." Murphy chuckled. "It might help if I knew where we were going though. I mean, you know, I don't wanna be nosy or anything but..."

"Oh, of course umm..." Cyra blushed a bit, proceeding to bring her old friend up to speed.

"Pragia?" The pilot echoed after she'd ended, absently running the right hand's thumb and index finger over the five o'clock shadow on his chin. "That's quite the trip." He pointed out. "We're not expected to go from here to there non-stop are we? If nothing else I need to pick up some live ordnance for my baby somewhere."

"Don't worry about that, Murph." Cyra replied. "We'll go to the citadel first. Got to pick up some additional gear and finalize our plan of attack together with unc...Admiral Moreau. From what I know so far, they plan to have a stealth frigate give us a piggyback ride to Pragia from there."

"Okeydokey." The pilot blankly stared at a random point on her desk as he contemplated what he needed to do. "I can be ready in twenty minutes. If time really is of the essence I suppose I could get the ship prepped in fifteen."

"It's not _that _urgent, Murph." The maiden smiled to herself. "My boys and girls need to get themselves sorted out first anyway. Go get a decent breakfast, collect your stuff and be ready to go in an hour, okay?"

"Sure thing, Shep." Murphy nodded. "No problemo."

Cyra went back to get the base affairs in order after the pilot had left the room. Not that there was a whole lot to get in order but she didn't know whether she'd be coming back here at all and she didn't want to leave a mess for a possible future base commander. The maiden stared out the window for a few moments. She'd gotten used to the barren landscape outside but she was certainly not going to miss it in case she didn't return here. Cyra got a bit of an uneasy feeling about the coming operation. She wasn't afraid of going into combat. In her few short years in the corps she'd seen more action than most veterans already. There would of course be those moments of apprehension, right before the dropship doors opened in the combat area, the jump scares and the sheer terror once the bullets started to fly but that didn't bother her. She was afraid of what she may find once they'd make it into the base though. Would she find him? Alive? She only knew one thing: If any harm had come to Alex, the mercs would pay dearly for it. Every single motherfucker of them.

She shook her head, pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and stood up. It was about time to go. A last look around the office to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything then she walked out the door and towards her room. Her helmet and duffel bag were lying on the bed. Beside them was a small bundle she'd taken out of the bag when she packed it this morning. Unwrapping it carefully Cyra uncovered two knives. They looked a bit like daggers from the Human medieval ages: the had pointy, straight, double edged blades, about thirty centimetres in length. She held them in both hands for a minute, feeling their weight. Then she pressed a small button in the daggers' hilts and the blades began to glow brightly. Satisfied that the archaic looking weapons were functioning properly she switched them off and put each of them in special, custom made sheaths embedded in the back plate of her armour. Then she put her helmet on, shouldered the duffel bag and walked out the room towards the main airlock.

Cyra Shepard was ready for war.

* * *

On the unnamed dwarf planet far far away in a small room she'd been provided, Ashley was rolling her head from one side to the other in her sleep. After she'd talked to her uncle and transferred the data from the ODS there had been nothing else to do for her but wait for a ship to pick her up, so she'd asked for a room to get some rest. The nightmares, the young Asari hadn't reckoned with.

On watch on the other side of the door, McClane frowned when she heard muffled moaning coming through the wall. She wondered whether she should go in there and check on the maiden but let it be for now. By the sound of it the Asari had had a fairly rough time and the blonde hadn't much of an idea how to deal with that. She wasn't a chaplain after all. The female marine quickly changed her mind when she heard a scream coming from inside the room.

"Ma'am are you all right?" McClane asked when she found Ashley sitting on the bed, her chest heaving as she blankly stared around the small room. "Ma'am?"

"Huh?" The maiden only now seemed to notice the blonde marine, standing in the door.

"Ma'am are you all right?"

"Where..." Ashley started to speak twice before her breathing had slowed down enough to be able to talk properly. "Where's the bathroom, please?"

"Right this way, ma'am." The maiden hesitated for a moment before she rose from the bed, put on her shoes and buttoned her blouse, following the blonde Human to a restroom down the hall. McClane waited outside while the young Asari was trying to sort herself out and splashed some water in her face.

"Can I get something to eat around here?" Ashley inquired when she found the female marine waiting outside the bathroom.

"Of course, ma'am." McClane said snappily. "Follow me, please."

Ashley briefly wondered why the Human was being this formal with her but her growling stomach prevented her from asking any questions at this time. Five minutes later sitting at a rectangular metal table munching a sandwich she had no such reservation any longer.

"What are you doing?" The maiden turned around to the blonde standing behind her.

"Ma'am?"

"Why are you following me around everywhere? You could have just given me directions you know."

"Orders from my Lieutenant, ma'am, which I'm faithfully following as it is my sworn duty to do so in the god allmighty's corps."

Ashley eyed the blonde suspiciously, wondering whether she we was being made fun of but the marine kept a straight face. "Would you at least sit down, please?" The maiden said. "I'd prefer to eat my sandwich without someone breathing down my neck."

"Very well, ma'am." The Human said and sat down opposite of Ashley.

"And for heaven's sake stop calling me ma'am please." The maiden exclaimed.

"Sorry, I was told to behave properly, m..."

"Screw that." Ashley snorted. "I'm not a crazy old matriarch surrounded by a herd of cats."

The blonde's eyes glittered with amusement. "What am I supposed to call you then?"

The young Asari briefly put down the sandwich and wiped her hand with a paper napkin. "Ashley."

The female marine seemed to be surprised, looking at the maiden's extended hand for a split second before she took it. "Jane."

Ashley blinked, her eyes darting to the name tag on the blonde's uniform. "Jane McClane?"

Jane snickered softly. "Hey I didn't pick the name."

The maiden took another bite from her sandwich. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what is someone like you doing in a desolate place like this, Jane?" She asked with her mouth half full. At this point Ashley didn't really care about proper manners.

"Someone like me?" The blonde was caught flat footed by the directness of the question. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it seems to me you'd cut a much better figure in some sort of representative duty, rather than babysitting a crazy Asari on the ass end of nowhere." Ashley grinned. "I mean if they'd put you on a poster outside alliance recruiting centres, I bet the alliance would be drowning in people wanting to join."

Jane blinked in astonishment before she suddenly laughed out loud. "Yeah with a couple of buttons on my blouse popped huh? Geez do you always go in head on like this?"

The maiden's face fell a little. "Not really." She sighed. "Only when I'm trying to get my mind off things after being abducted and then dumped on a small dwarf planet in a system Astronomers say is going to pop sometime in the foreseeable future." She pretended to give it some more thought, then continued with an overstated nod. "Yep, only at times like these."

"I see. Sounds like..."

"I'd rather not talk about it anymore okay?" Ashley snapped more forcefully than she'd intended. "As I said I'm trying to get my mind off things."

"Of course." The blonde marine said quickly. "Didn't mean to snoop."

Ashley got busy with her sandwich again, munching away as she blankly stared at the table for a while. She only looked back up when McClane noisily cleared her throat.

"Something wrong?" She asked, noticing that the blonde seemed to be kinda nervous.

Jane ummed and erred for a moment. "You know, I was wondering if..." She took a deep breath. "...If you could get me your father's autograph."

"Excuse me?" Ashley stopped chewing, unsure if she'd heard correctly.

"I know it's silly." The blonde blushed furiously. "But you know...Ever since I first saw a vid about the great war, I've always wanted...Ah hell never mind me."

The maiden could just barely prevent herself from laughing openly. The Human seemed to be embarrassed enough as it was and she didn't want to add to that. She couldn't fully ban a grin from her face however. That there was someone fangirling about her dad all the way out here was just too crazily funny. It was kinda bizarre.

"Tell you what, Jane." Ashley smiled. "You keep my company and help me keeping my mind off things and I'll get you my old man's autograph. Deal?"

* * *

"Enough chit-chat, Ladies." Hours later, still sitting at the very same table in the small mess, the two females looked up, both frowning somewhat reluctantly at the Chief. "A ship is inbound to pick you up, darlin'. Better suit up and get ready. You don't wanna spend anymore time here than absolutely necessary do you?"

A few hours ago Ashley would have subscribed to that on the spot but now she was actually a bit reluctant to go. She'd immediately clicked with the blonde Human and they'd had a very nice, almost therapeutic talk. And besides she didn't know where the alliance ship was going to take her. Giving her conversational partner and apologetic look she nevertheless rose.

"So." Ashley asked as the female marine helped her into the suit."Where to I send the autograph?"

"Oh gee, I completely forgot about that." Jane laughed and gave the maiden the required information, reaching down to pick up the helmet. The two females briefly hugged before the Human guided the Asari to the airlock. Ashley smiled to herself when the pressuring cycle began. In a few short hours she had made a friend all the way out here. It had been the best day she'd had for some time that was for certain. However now she couldn't wait to get to see Rosie again.

The ship had already landed when the outer door opened and the maiden stopped dead in her tracks when she recognized the spacecraft and it's pilot walking towards her.

"Hey Ash!" Stunned in surprise it took Ashley a moment to return her youngest sister's hug.

"Hannah!?" She managed to stammer after a few moments. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"What do ya think? Getting you home silly." Hannah said, giving the other maiden a firm smack on the shoulder. "Come on let's go."

Still somewhat in a state of shock Ashley offered no resistance as Hannah basically dragged her into the family yacht. "Do we have enough fuel for a little detour?" She asked as she strapped herself in the co-pilot seat.

"A detour?" The other Asari echoed absently, going through the engine start-up procedure. "To where?" The younger Shepard did some rough calculations in her head when Ashley told her. "Sure can do." She said as she grabbed the controls and had the spacecraft slowly rise from the landing pad in a cloud of dust. As the yacht shot upwards Ashley felt elated and a sad at the same time. She'd see Rosie again soon but she couldn't get Alex and Lien out of her head, wondering what perils they might be facing at this very moment.

* * *

That's it for now.

Comments are always welcome.

Take care :)


	14. Chapter 14

Michael Leh hadn't slept in a bed as comfortable as this in a long, long time. The sheets were clean, mattress and pillow soft and most importantly he wasn't alone in it. A smile on his face the young man dozily rolled over. The was something bothering him though, a vague feeling of something being wrong in the back of his mind. Whatever it was it was awfully annoying. How was he supposed to get proper sleep if...sleep...

"Shit, I've fallen asleep!"

"Huh?" Angela sleepily sat up as her boyfriend shot out the bed and began to hectically gather up his clothes.

"I need to get back to the barracks damn it!" Mike checked the time, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized he could still make it. "I'm supposed to be at the briefing in less than an hour. I...where the heck are my underpants...?"

The young med student giggled, her eyes admiringly running over the marine's well-toned body. He'd left the barracks without permission, eager so see Angela in person for the first time in half a year while his buddies were taking a rest. He'd planned to go back way sooner but, well, the lovers' reunion had been quite exhausting and Mike just hoped that no one had noticed his absence so far.

"Mike?" Angela's smile faded a little as she watched him getting dressed.

"Hm?"

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" She asked. "I don't suppose this is some sort of getaway is it?"

"Sorry, Angie. Can't tell you I..."Mike interrupted himself when he noticed the apprehensive look on his girlfriend's face. He walked over and put and arm around her, pulling her close as he tried to find a harmless explanation for his presence. "Oh come on don't make such a long face, okay? We're just going on a sort of routine patrol, you see. It's really nothing to worry about..."

She didn't even let him finish the sentence. "Mike, you'd better not go into politics." Angela said with a weak smile, gently running a hand over his cheek. "You're a lousy liar."

They shared an affectionate kiss. "Really honey." He tried again. "I'll be just fine, don't worry. We just have to go and, well, pick somebody up one might say."

Angela said nothing, instead enjoying the closeness to her boyfriend she'd missed so much during the last couple of months. She knew it was useless to keep asking what was up but considering the line of work Mike was in, it wasn't too hard to figure out that it was most likely something that potentially put him in harms way. After a few more moments she took a step back. "Just be careful out there all right?"

"Don't worry." He said for the third time within a few minutes. "Your folks aren't going to get rid of me just yet."

"That's not funny, Mike." Angela said albeit chuckling softly. She went to the bathroom and put on a silken bathrobe, then helped her boyfriend finish getting dressed, looking him over once finished. "You know, I got to admit: You soldier boys do look dashing in your uniforms."

"That's funny you'd say that." Mike grinned from ear to ear. "Considering that you couldn't get rid of it fast enough earlier."

"Indeed I did." Angela giggled. "Just like you couldn't get me out of the scrubs quickly enough."

"It's almost as if we were made for each other, eh darling?"

"Definitely." The med student breathed as she felt one hand running down her side, the other through her silken black hair. She raised herself on tiptoes and pulled his head down a little, her lips seeking his. The two of them became more and more aroused and Angela already felt him fondling with the waistband of her bathrobe when, to her great disappointment, Mike suddenly stopped and almost jumped away.

"Goddamnit." He rasped, his face was flushed, his breathing heavy as he briefly folded his hands behind his head because they seemed to develop a life of their own. "I...I really need to go Angie. If the LT finds out...If _anyone_ finds out I've buggered off without leave, I'm in deep shit."

The young woman opened her mouth to protest but closed it again. "Okay." She simply said then, stepped closer and kissed him on the mouth once more. Mike returned the kiss half-heartedly. He was too busy keeping his hands from going off the rails again.

"I err..." The marine whispered after looking in Angela's eyes for what seemed to be an eternity. "I better go now." He was almost at the door when the med student called him.

"Mike?"

"Hm?" The young man hesitantly turned around. For a moment the lovers longingly looked at one another then Angela untied the knot of her bathrobe's waistband, letting it loosen up.

"Come back to me." She said softly. "In one piece."

"You bet I will." Mike mumbled lamely. For a few moments he just stood there, enjoying the view. When he finally managed to shake the paralysis and spring to action, his exit was more an escape than anything else. The young man was afraid that, if he'd stayed only a moment longer, he might not have the willpower to leave at all. As a matter of fact, several times during the trip back to the barracks he was awfully close to turn around and head back to Angie's apartment. "Come on, man." He whispered to himself as his blood pressure slowly normalized. "Only a couple of months more and you're out. You managed this long without seeing her you can manage that a well."

The barracks weren't very difficult to get into without someone noticing. Mike had been stationed here long enough to know the hidden paths soldiers used to 'get some fresh air' when they weren't supposed to. Besides since the alliance presence on the citadel was predominantly representative in nature, security around the base wasn't taken all too serious anyway. Once inside the perimeter he started to relax, looking at the time. There was plenty of time to get his ass in gear to get to the briefing reasonably punctual.

"I was beginning to think we'd have to send out a search party."

"Waaaah...!" Mike nearly had a heart attack when Kelly spoke up right behind him. "Gee, Johanson!" The young marine had to support himself against the wall. "Is that supposed to be some sort of reaction test or what are you trying to do here?" He demanded, turning around after he'd gathered up his wits.

"Nah." Kelly laughed cheerfully. "I'm just a humble marine who noticed a buddy's absence and began to wonder." Mike mumbled something unintelligible. It sounded like a cuss. "You and your diplomat chick had fun by the looks of it, huh?"

"How the hell do you know...!"

"Oh please, dude." The Amazon huffed. "Imagine a red blooded young man with a sweetheart he hasn't seen in months and who just happens to live here on the citadel. Then said guy mysteriously vanishes when his team is supposed to be resting only to reappear a few hours later with a grin on his face that would make the Cheshire cat turn green with envy." Kelly lowered her head and gave the other marine an amused look. "Doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out, does it?"

"I err..." Mike was vaguely aware that his face had assumed the colour of a mellow tomato. "I guess not." He said lamely as he looked around. To his relief there was no one else close enough to be able to listen in on the conversation. "You...You're not going to report that, right?"

"What?" Kelly's features darkened instantly. "Do I look like a snitch to you?"

"No no." Mike assured the enormous woman quickly. "It's just...Thanks."

"Hey, don't mention it." Kelly grinned slapping him on the shoulder. "Come on, you should really get your ass in gear and get ready for the briefing."

"Yeah I guess I should." Mike said as they started walking side by side. "She's a med-student by the way."

"Hm?"

"Angie is a med-student." He repeated. "Her mother is the diplomat."

"I see." Kelly raised an eyebrow in amusement when she noticed the hint of a dreamy smile on his face. "Must be a hell of a lady." She commented dryly.

"You don't know the half of it, Kelly." Mike sighed. "You don't have the slightest clue."

"Jesus man." The Amazon snickered. "Get a cold shower, will ya?"

* * *

"Jesus, Rosie." Ashley laughed at the same time hundreds of light years away as the Shepard family yacht approached her home planet. "Relax will you?"

The two of them stood on the yacht's observation deck, looking down on the magnificent blue and green orb underneath. The view through the panoramic window was nothing short of breathtaking but Rose wasn't in a state where she could appreciate that. Soon she'd meet Ashley's parents for the first time and the young woman was awfully tense. She'd had met the parents of a lover of hers before but those had just been regular, 'normal' people, not some of the galaxy's most famous heroes.

"What am I even going to say?" The redhead mumbled, chewing on her lip.

"How about 'Hi'?" Ashley suggested impishly.

"I'm serious, Ash." Rose snapped, nervously trying to smooth down her simple sweater. The larger the planet grew in the window the louder her heart seemed to be beating.

"What makes you think I'm not?" The maiden wanted to know.

"But..."

"Oh for heaven's sake, Rosie!" Ashley exclaimed as she grabbed her girlfriend by she shoulders and shook her gently. "Take it easy okay? Nobody expects a grandiose statement or something like that from you. Least of all my parents. 'Hello' or any derivation thereof will do just fine."

"But what if they don't take to me?"

"Oh geee...!" Ashley threw her hands up in exasperation. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

"It's easy for you to talk!" Rose protested loudly. "I mean, how would you feel right now if our positions were reversed, huh?"

"Probably quite nervous." The maiden had to admit after thinking about it for a bit. "But still, come on Rosie, simmer down. My parents don't bite." Ashley couldn't resist to add: "Much." After a dramatic pause.

"Very funny." The Human girl muttered sourly, but she did smile a little. The two females fell silent for a moment and looked out the window for a while. "And you're absolutely certain that they're okay with me staying at their place for a few weeks?" Rose asked eventually.

"Of course I'm certain." Ashley replied instantly. "I've asked them and Dad specifically said that he was looking forward to meeting you." Rose's face darkened a bit when she heard that. "So don't worry."

"All right, you love birdies." Hannah's cheerful voice came over the intercom before the redhead could voice any more concerns. "I hope you're not doing anything dirty back there 'cause we've just gotten our landing clearance. So find a seat and strap yourselves in. We're going dooooown!" The Asari pilot ended with a loud 'Whoohooo'.

"Hannah can be a little weird sometimes." Ashley laughed as she sat down next to the main window, noticing the puzzled look on Rose's face. "I've been told it was harmless."

"Glad to hear it." The redhead said dryly. She caught her breath as the yacht seemed to go into a nosedive, plunging towards the blue and green orb like a bird of prey on the hunt and Rose involuntarily caught a hold of the sides of the chair. The terrain features grew larger awfully fast and the ginger half expected to end up as a black spot on the planet surface. Only when Hannah flared out the space craft and skilfully guided it towards the spaceport, flying low over the open ocean, did Rose dare to breathe again.

"Ey, is that a view or is that a view?" The youngest Shepard crowed proudly. "Sorry for swooping down like that but I figured the sight was worth it."

"Yeah, thanks, flygirl." Ashley snorted in the direction of the nearest microphone. "I'm sure we'll appreciate it once our hearts have started beating again."

Hannah's laughter was clear over the intercom as Rose looked out the window. The vista _was_ awesome, of that there was no doubt. They flew over azure blue waves towards white shores, beyond which one could see a huge elegantly curved tower rising into the sky in the distance. One of the landmarks of his world.

"Does she always fly like that?" Rose wanted to know after finding her voice once more.

"Yeah most of the time." Ashley grinned. "Certainly when she thinks she'll get away with it. The way I hear it, she played a prominent role in her flying instructors' nightmares for a while."

"Yeah, remind me to take a regular flight next time please."

"Nah, you'll get used to it." Ashley giggled. "Consider it a sort of fraternity initiation."

"Oh, fuck off!"

To the ginger's relief the rest of the flight, all five remaining minutes of it, went by largely uneventful and finally Hannah smoothly set the ship down on a flight pad at the local spaceport.

"End of the line, ladies." The pilot announced as the engine sounds subsided. "We hope you enjoyed the flight with Shepard Air and..." There was a short pause. "...ah screw it. Just get the hell off my ship, ya dirty landlubbers!" It then groused out the speakers.

"Interesting girl, your sister." Rose commented dryly as she unbuckled the seatbelt and stood up.

"Told you she could be a bit weird." Ashley gave the redhead an apologetic look. "She has a thing for pirate vids. Pay her no mind."

"What have I gotten myself into?" Rose wondered stagily as she picked up her bag.

"Rosie." The maiden giggled. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

"That's what I'm afraid of." The redhead smirked as the two of them made their way through the yacht. At least she seemed to be much more relaxed than before, Ashley noticed. Perhaps Hannah's wild manoeuvre had actually done some good in that respect. The Asari 'flygirl' joined them at the main exit ramp, grinning gleefully. They had barely reached to bottom of the ramp when they heard a dark voice holler.

"Ashley!" Despite his advancing age the maiden's father was moving admirably quickly as he rushed towards her. The former spectre's eyes seemed to be unusually damp when he hugged his daughter, kissing her on the forehead several time. "Thank the heavens you're okay."

Ashley enjoyed her father's embrace for a moment then she gently but determinately disengaged from the retired Commander's arms. She found getting smothered in front of her girlfriend by her father to be somewhat embarrassing.

"You really _are _okay, aren't you?" The elder Human asked, holding his daughter at arms length, looking her over.

"Of course, I'm okay." Ashley replied and turned around, waving Rose closer. "Dad." She said, putting an arm around the redhead. "This is Rose."

"Umm...Hi, I'm Rose." The young woman mumbled, blushing considerably as she spoke up.

"Ah yes." The former spectre's lips split into a wide smile. "Ashley told me of you." He said. "She mentioned you were pretty but that word doesn't seem to do it justice."

Her face darkening even more the ginger stammered something that vaguely resembled 'thank you'. Fortunately her girlfriend's father either didn't seem to mind or was used to people having difficulties articulating themselves in his presence.

"Anyway." He said firmly, picking up Ashley's bag. "Let's not stand around the tarmac any longer than we have to." He gestured towards a hover-limousine waiting about fifty meters away. "Let's go girls."

"Smooth." Ashley whispered in Rose's ear as they followed her father, giggling softly when the redhead glared at her.

Rose stifled a barbed remark and instead curiously looked over to Hannah. Strangely enough the younger maiden kept throwing glances at the old-fashioned mechanical wrist watch she was wearing and at the nearby control tower. She seemed to be waiting for something.

"Shepard!" Somebody suddenly shouted from behind.

"Ah there he is." Hannah suppressed a laugh when the whole group stopped and turned around. " I was beginning to worry." A little louder she said: "That's my business folks." She nodded towards the bald middle aged, slightly overweight human, marching towards them red faced, puffing like an old steam locomotive. "Don't wait for me. This could take a moment."

Rose curiously looked at the other two Shepards, wondering if they knew what was going on, but Ashley seemed to be just as clueless as her and the old Human only rolled his eyes excessively.

"Yes, mister Cruise." Hannah said at this moment, casually sauntering towards the spaceport official. "What seems to be the problem?"

"What seems to be the problem!?" Rose heard the man demand, listening to the exchange with half an ear as she put her bag into the limousine's open trunk. "What the hell do you think you're doing huh? I told you a million times not to buzz the tower like that, for crying out loud!"

Rose was almost sorry that she couldn't hear the rest of the conversation when she seated herself on the expensive leather seats in the back of the limousine. She looked out the back window and saw the Human gesturing wildly as the skycar smoothly rose. The ginger giggled involuntarily. The next couple of weeks promised to be highly interesting.

* * *

Things were about to get interesting in a different corner of the galaxy. Other than Cyra and her marines picking up their gear for the upcoming operation there wasn't a whole lot going on in the alliance main armoury on the citadel. Still there was a certain kind of nervous tension in the room as the soldiers put together their equipment, checked and re-checked it, called over the armourers to fix small problems with their personal suits and generally making sure that everything fit as well as it possibly could. Once they were done here, they would head straight to the docks and board the frigate assigned for this mission. The trip to the target would take several hours, sure, but the facilities aboard the small ship were too limited to do anything, should any deficiencies with the gear emerge. The way you entered the frigate here was the way you would disembark from the dropship in the combat zone and therefore Cyra and her people took their time, making certain that everything was all right.

The Asari Lieutenant was keeping an eye on her marines while she was stuffing several batches of thermo clips in her belt pockets. To a certain degree the soldiers could choose their own weapons and equipment but she still needed to keep an eye on it and make sure that the loadouts were balanced. Most of the marines had of course certain pieces of equipment assigned to them. Kelly for example a heavy machine gun. Judging by the grin on the enormous woman's face when she picked up the multi-barreled weapon she didn't seem to mind at all though.

"Remember there will probably be Krogans." Mike momentarily paused, picking up the breeching charges he'd been assigned to carry, when the Lieutenant spoke up. "So each of you take at least a couple of rounds of HVAP for your twenty mils in case they refuse to die."

Mike went back to see about his own gear. This had been addressed at the guys with the underslung grenade launchers attached to their rifles not him. Once he was finished he walked around a little to figure out whether the added weight was distributed properly and didn't screw up his balance. He made a few minor adjustments then picked up his carbine. He frowned, trying to think of something he may have forgotten but came up empty. As he joined the handful of marines who were done Mike couldn't help but notice that the Asari Lieutenant was stuffing additional emergency ration bars into every pocket she possibly could.

"It's a long story, Corporal." The maiden said, smiling thinly when she became aware of his gaze. "And I don't think you want to hear it right now."

"Aye, Sir." Mike's eyes widened a bit when his platoon leader detached two long knives form the backplate of her armour and examined them briefly. "Mind me asking what those are, Sir?"

The look Cyra's green eyes was so cold that the young Human actually felt a shiver running down his spine. "Souvenirs, Corporal." She hissed under her breath. "Just souvenirs."

Mike exchanged looks with the other marines of the small group, deciding that he'd better not keep asking. One by one the other members of the assault squad finished their set up and joined the group. When everybody was done the Lieutenant had them form a line, going from one trooper to the next for a check.

In formation, with all of their gear on, the marines then jogged the five hundred meters to the pier where the frigate was waiting for them. Mike found himself grinning like an idiot for most of the way. He was running behind Guzzman and for reasons he didn't quite comprehend himself he found the swaying of the medic's large pack to look awfully funny.

"Next stop, Pragia, ladies and gentlemen." Cyra said, when the frigate's outer airlock door opened with a loud hiss. Mike's grin faded when the door slammed shut behind him. There would be no going back now. Without warning the short time with his girlfriend earlier that day edged forward into his thoughts. All of a sudden the young man immensely regretted that he hadn't told Angie that he loved her before going out the door.

* * *

The flight to Pragia wasn't exactly amongst the most pleasant ones in the marines lives. From the moment the frigate had entered the attican traverse it operated under full alert and tensions aboard steadily rose the closer the warship got to the target. The waiting almost imperceptibly began to tear at the troopers' nerves. The sailors operating the ship had their tasks to keep their mind occupied. Cyra and her marines could do nothing but sit around idly. Some tried to keep themselves busy checking their gear for the umpteenth time. Others tried to entertain themselves and others by telling jokes or silly anecdotes. Whatever the soldiers tried to do, however, nothing could really distract them from the fact that a squad of eight would soon have to assault a complex occupied by thirty or forty mercenaries.

They had a solid plan of attack. The marines had superior training and after weeks of drilling they were at their very best. They also had superior equipment and the element of surprise. Those mercs couldn't possibly know they were coming. Nevertheless the fact remained that the assault team would be severely outnumbered and if something did go wrong, it could potentially go wrong really, really badly.

The situation was easier for Cyra to handle. For her that was nothing new. She began to try to think of ways the could get her people to relax even a little but there was not a whole lot she could do. She found it to almost be a miracle when one of the marines, Goldstein, looking at his Lieutenant apologetically, suddenly produced a deck of cards from one of his pocket.

"Sir? Can we?" He asked cautiously.

Cyra amazedly stared at the pack of cards, wondering where the hell the soldier had hidden those. She thought about whether she should allow the marines to pass the time with gambling. On one hand everyone on the ship was supposed to be alert and ready for action at all times. On the other hand, if the ship should get involved in a space battle or if there was any other kind of emergency, there was really nothing her people could do about it. Until they got to their objective the marines were only passengers and while it was certainly against the regulations, she didn't see the harm in allowing them to play cards.

"Ah, give the man a cigar!" Guzzman exclaimed when the Asari Lieutenant nodded. Within moments the soldiers formed a circle, kneeling or sitting on the floor. Cyra hid a smile. If she hadn't known better she would have thought the whole thing had been planned and rehearsed long in advance.

"Better yet, give him a medal." Mike agreed as the cards were being shuffled.

"I'd prefer a cigar to be honest." Goldstein grinned as he began to deal. "You don't happen to have any in your medi pack do you Guzzman?"

"'Fraid not." The medic snickered. "Apparently it's against the regs to put anything in a medi pack that's not good for you. At least that's what people keep telling me."

"What a shame." Mike snorted as he picked up his first card.

Before long the small group was fully in gambling mode. Cyra didn't join in. She found it more amusing to watch her marines play from the outside. As cards were dealt and collected again, credits changed hands and curses were flung around the room, the maiden noticed that Private Watanabe wasn't participating either. He stood slightly apart from the rest of the group, blankly staring at the floor in front of his feet.

"Private?" The young Human flinched slightly when he heard his Lieutenant's voice right beside him.

"Sir?"

"The party's over there." Cyra, slightly nodding towards the Private's buddies having fun on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Sir. I'm okay, Sir. " He smiled weakly, hesitating momentarily. "I just don't fancy loosing all my money. I'm a lousy card player."

Loud cheering erupted in the ready and Cyra had to remind her people to keep the volume down. "Come on, Private." She then said and gave the man a very gentle push towards the group. "We're going to stay in this room for at least a couple of hours longer. You don't want to keep brooding here all by yourself that whole time do you?"

Kenji sighed. "I guess not." He said, took a few steps towards the middle of the room and sat down next to the other marines. However he didn't join the game, sitting a little apart from the group with a slightly forlorn look on his face.

Cyra frowned, wondering whether there was something going on there she ought to know about. The Private had done well, really well, during training. He'd thrown himself at the practice with more energy and vigour than anyone else and despite being rather short for a marine, he seemed to be a natural in hand to hand combat. The maiden had noticed him keeping to himself more and more as of late but until now hadn't thought anything of it. Well now it was too late to deal with a potential problem. She did tell herself to take him aside for a talk after the mission though. If things went well that was. If they didn't she'd probably have other problems to deal with – or none at all anymore.

The buzzing of the conversations, revolving around the card game, quieted down momentarily when the door opened but resumed normally when they marines noticed that it was only their dropship driver joining them in the ready room.

"Yo, Murph." Cyra said in a low voice. "Everything ready?"

"Fuel tanks topped off, missile launchers fully stocked and the guns are locked and loaded. My baby and I are ready to rock'n'roll." He threw a knowing look at the marines. "Your boys and girls seem to have fun."

"Yeah I figured I might as well allow them to unwind a bit."

"I didn't miss anything good I hope?" Murphy grinned boyishly. "They're not playing Strip-Poker or something?"

"Not so far they haven't." The maiden snickered.

"Too bad." The pilot smirked. "If they did I'd feel compelled to join in."

Cyra cocked her head to the side and eyed the Human curiously. "Because you're so good at Poker or because you're so bad?"

"Nu-uh, Shep. I ain't telling you that." Murpy shook his head. "You wanna know, you gotta risk something. Like loosing a couple of pieces of clothing."

"Yeah, not right now." The maiden tapped on the breastplate of her armour. "I'm afraid that would be a wee bit impractical at the moment."

"Hey I'll gladly take a voucher for another time."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Cyra chuckled softly. "Don't get your hopes up."

"Ah, bummer."

There was a long pause in the conversation as the Lieutenants watched the marines gamble. "You know." Murphy said after a few minutes. "Some rear echelon hero would probably not be too pleased with us if he knew about this." He nodded at the game-in-play.

"I suppose not." Cyra snorted snidely. "But I bet the regulation warriors would be even less happy if they were the ones having to risk their asses on the front line."

"Ain't that right." The pilot laughed out loud.

"If you're not telling anybody, I'm not either."

"I'll be as silent as a grave."

The maiden fell silent absently stared at the marines, having fun. _Her_ marines. They were a good bunch of men and women and she hoped that as many of them as possible, preferably all of them, would be able to enjoy another game of cards on the way back out of the terminus systems.

Murphy and Cyra spent a while longer, watching the poker game and talking quietly about this and that. Harmless stuff, whatever came to their minds. Things did get a bit more interesting when the maiden mentioned her youngest sibling.

"You got a sister with a penchant for aviation?" He inquired incredulously. "Really?"

"Yep." Cyra chuckled. Hannah's obsession with anything even remotely related to air- and spacecraft had always been a source of amusement in the Shepard family. "She got her first license before she was forty. From what I hear she's driving the spaceport staff crazy at times."

"Sounds like a nice girl." The pilot noted. "And she's planning to apply to the fleet academy?"

"Yeah she..."

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Murphy beamed.

Cyra stared at the pilot, trying to determine how serious he was. "Murph!" She growled eventually. "Don't even think about it." Her tone of voice was sharp but the maiden's eyes glittered with amusement. "For your own good don't..."

The loudspeakers fairly rudely cut into the conversation with an announcement from the Captain. "Fifteen minutes to drop area. Assault team, get ready. Backup squads, stand by."

"Here we go." Both the officers immediately went back to business. As the men and women gathered up the playing cards Murphy had already left the ready room, heading for his ship. Cyra and her people followed a few moments later. At the base of the ladder, leading upwards to the docked dropship, the Asari Lieutenant checked every marine's equipment one last time, wishing them luck as she sent them up the ladder one by one. The maiden took a deep breath before climbing upwards herself. As she took her seat, strapping herself in she could feel the characteristic vertigo that was always there when a ship dropped out of FTL.

"Two minutes to detach, folks." The dropship jockey announced. "Everything okay back there?"

Cyra quickly looked around the passenger compartment. Some of the marines nodded, others gave her a thumbs up. "We're good to go, Murph."

A faint his could be heard over the increasing noise of the spacecraft's power systems as the bottom hatch closed. No one said anything. Everybody was busy with his own thoughts, preparing himself mentally for what was about to come.

"Here we go, boys and girls." Cyra could feel the dropship rock gently as it came off the frigate and slid to the side, rapidly picking up speed. At first the ride was nice and smooth but that was over once the ship entered Pragia's atmosphere. The maiden closely looked at her soldiers, checking for signs of discomfort or illness when they got thrown around in their safety harnesses more and more. She didn't see any. Good. One possible source of misfortune less to worry about.

In the cockpit, Murphy was completely in his element as he brought the dropship down to treetop level. His hands at the controls, eyes slightly narrowed he guided the craft along a pre determined track, designed to keep them as far away from anything man made as possible. Despite the obvious risk, flying this low and fast, the flight Lieutenant enjoyed himself immensely, throwing the ship up and down left and right to evade obstacles. For too long had he only been able to do this in a simulator and as realistic those were these days, it still wasn't the same as the real thing.

The pilot was almost disappointed when the navigation system told him that they were closing in on the drop point. "Two minutes."

In the back the marines perked up when they heard Murphy's announcement. "Seal hardsuits, everybody." Cyra ordered as she closed her visor. She briefly waited for the suit's self test to complete before she picked up her carbine. "Lock and load!" Clicking and humming noised filled the small compartment as the soldiers got their guns ready.

"One minute." The maiden could feel the dropship decelerate.

"Get ready." Cyra and her people rose from their seats as the pilot gave them the green light and, clinging to an overhead rail, moved towards the rear.

"DZ in sight. Fifteen seconds." The marines engaged their helmet's low light vision modes when the lights went out right before the ramp opened. "Good luck ladies and gentlemen." Murphy said. "Go get 'em!"

The dropship didn't land. Murphy merely brought it to a stop, hovering right above the trees, maybe thirty meters above the ground.

"Everybody out! Go go go!" One after the other the marines simply jumped off the ramp, a computer controller burst from their suit thrusters guaranteeing them a reasonably soft landing. "We're on the deck." Cyra reported only a few moments later, her people taking up positions around her.

"Roger, moving to holding position." The shadow, looming above slowly moved away, leaving the assault team alone on the ground.

The Asari Lieutenant took a moment to get her bearings after the engine sounds had ceased, then got the marines in a loose formation and moving out. It did take the squad a bit longer to get to the target building than she'd anticipated, Pragia's rampant flora proving quite the challenge to move through. Cyra frowned a little, when she saw a bright shimmer on the horizon as they stopped just inside the tree line close to the objective.

From the data Ashley had brought back the marines already had a pretty decent idea what kind of surveillance equipment they'd have to deal with. To make sure they were no nasty surprises Cyra nonetheless had her people send forth a handful of tiny scout drones to sniff out and analyse all kinds of cameras, motion detectors and anything else that could warn the mercenaries of their approach.

"Move out." She tapped Mike on the shoulder after and pointed in the direction she wanted him to go. The base surroundings had been cleared the day before but the thicket had already grown back enough to provide decent cover if you crouched down a little. Careful to make as little noise and offering as small a silhouette as possible the squad slowly moved through the undergrowth until they reached the side of the building. The marines came to a halt as they reached a door, quickly taking position on either side of it. Cyra quickly checked the building blueprints, stored in her hardsuit computer, to make certain this was the entrance they had planned to use. She gestured Kenji to move up and start working on the door.

The tech got his omni-tool fired up as he knelt down. The private did take a little longer than Cyra would have liked and she was about to ask what was wrong when Kenji turned to her.

"Alarm system down, sir." He reported under his breath. "But the locking mechanism seems to be stuck. By the looks of it this door hasn't been opened in a while."

The maiden instantly turned to Mike. "Blow it."

Without a word the Corporal took a tiny breeching charge out of one of his bags and carefully attached it to the flat, metal surface. Everyone moved a step or two away from the door and Cyra took a deep breath.

"Execute!"

* * *

So, things are about to get violent, but not until the next chapter, I'm afraid.

Until then...

Take care.


	15. Chapter 15

Howdy folks.

Here's the next chapter.

Apologies for the delay. Life and all...you know...;)

* * *

Cyra briefly turned the head away as the breeching charge exploded, tearing a small hole in the metal door. The maiden grimaced because of the noise. Potentially warning the mercs that they were coming was just about the last thing they needed at this very moment but it couldn't be helped. This entrance here was by far the closest to their first objective and going in anywhere else would have made everything so much harder that she hadn't even considered it.

Cyra knelt down in front of the blackened door and brought her carbine up, index finger on the trigger and thumb on the safety switch, as Corporal Leh forced it open. No one in sight. None of the suit's sophisticated sensors detected any indication of movement ahead of her. Good. At least something. Her suit did pick up several microcameras spread throughout the corridor though. Disruptive programs had been released into the system to tamper with those. As to how effective those viruses were one never knew. Which was why their first target had to be the main security room. On a hand signal from the Lieutenant the squad slowly and carefully moved in. Goldstein and Kenji at the point, Cyra right behind them with Kelly at her side. Guzzman and Mike came next with the Privates Petrow and Nguyen covering the rear.

Making as little noise as possible the team moved through the metal corridors towards the compound's main security room. A frown slowly crept onto the maiden's face, deepening the closer they got to the target. They were almost there and yet still hadn't seen a single soul so far. Things were almost going too well and Cyra had to pull herself together in order to keep focused and not start second guessing. For a second she even worried, that they were in the wrong place.

One more turn and they were at the security office. If she hadn't been wearing a helmet, Cyra would have felt compelled to rub her eyes in disbelief when she peeked through the window. The room looked just like one commonly imagined. Lots of holographic monitors showing all kinds of camera views and feeds. However the guy who was supposed to watch it was sitting comfortably on his chair, his feet on the console, playing some sort of virtual card game. On his omni-tool. She nearly laughed she found it so weird.

Shaking her head faintly she ordered two of her marines to guard each of the approaches, put her carbine down and drew one of her daggers before going through the door. She prepared a biotic attack but she didn't have to use it. The young Human inside didn't even bother to look up when he heard the door open.

"Took you long enough to just get a coffee, dude." He said. "But I'll forgive you just this..."

He froze when he felt the razor sharp blade at his throat. "Morning sunshine." Cyra purred into his ear. "Didn't they tell you to not to play games while you're on watch?" Superficially the maiden's tone of voice was jovial but there was an icy untertone, making it abundantly clear that the situation was serious. "Put your hands on the armrests and slowly take your feet off the console. You try and sound the alarm, any of your body parts come even close to the controls, you're going to lose it. Do I make myself clear?"

His forehead growing damp the youngster nodded jerkily.

"Good boy." Cyra loosened the pressure against his throat a little bit, so that he could move without running the risk of slashing it open. "Nice and slow now." She pulled him away from the console and to his feet, ordering Kenji to take the man's place with a nod. "You play along and don't give us any trouble and you might just live through this."

On the maiden's command one of the other marines fettered the merc with a zip tie. Then she took the knife away from the man's neck and had him sit down against the wall as the tech went to work behind her. After one more look at the mercenary, making certain that he wasn't going anywhere, she went over to Private Watanabe and glanced at the monitors over his shoulder.

"How's it looking, Private?"

"Still searching, Sir." He mumbled apologetically, his fingers flying over the holographic controls. "This system's a goddamn relic, Sir. Half the shit doesn't even seem to work anymore. Bloody heap of junk, seriously."

Cyra had to force herself away from the console. The tech would be able to work better and faster if she didn't keep bugging him. _'Where the hell is he?' _She briefly thought about asking the captive about it but decided against it for the time being. Information gained in such a situation were often awfully untrustworthy and the last thing she wanted right now was to waste time listening to some made up baloney.

"Movement, northeastern corridor." The maiden's head came up as she heard one of her men's whispered warning. "Sounds like one guy, heading this way."

"If he walks past, let him be." Cyra ordered quickly. "Otherwise let him come through the door, then take him down as quickly and quietly as you can."

"Roger that." As the two marines watching the hallway in question pulled back slightly, the Asari Lieutenant knelt down right next to the captured merc, casually playing around with her dagger. The young Human paled. The maiden said nothing but there was little doubt that if he tried anything the consequences would be dire indeed. For a few moments the only noise that could be heard were the soft clicks and beeps of Kenji, struggling with the system.

"Wha...!?" The mercenary's surprised outcry was immediately cut short by a loud crack followed by a thump when the Batarian fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. As Cyra stood back up, glancing outside, Nguyen was just dragging the unconscious merc through the corridor. Judging by the look of the enormous bruise, the butt of the marine's carbine and the Batarian's jaw had had a very violent meeting.

Cyra went back to looking over the tech's shoulder, paying no attention as to where the merc was dragged to. Kenji still hadn't fully gotten a handle on the system and got more and more annoyed with the 'heap of junk'.

* * *

Not too far away the mercenaries second in command was trying to find the source of the bang he'd heard earlier. So far he hadn't come across anything out of the ordinary and after a while Krogan began to wonder if he'd been imagining the whole thing. Or maybe it had just been some of the guys having fun with explosives. Wouldn't be the first time someone killed time, blowing random junk up. Boredom was always a problem in a place like this, which was also why the Krogan had decided to check things out himself rather than delegating the task.

The massive mercenary threw a look into a corridor, leading to one of the side entrances. He was about to walk away when a weak shimmer of light coming through the door caught his attention. His eyes narrowing suspiciously the Krogan carefully moved up to take a closer look.

"Hello." He grumbled. A small hole had been blasted into the door, probably with a shaped charge, cutting neatly through the locking mechanism. Professional work by the looks of it. The mercenary cautiously opened the door and peeked outside. He detached his heavy shotgun from his back and stepped onto the concrete forecourt. There was no one in sight but he could clearly see a couple of dirty bootprints leading to the compound. Way too many that it could have just been someone having a smoke or anything of the sort.

* * *

"Okay, that should be it." Cyra's head came up when Private Watanabe broke the silence. "Interstellar communication down, Hangar doors locked...I think."

"You think?" The maiden demanded. "What do you mean, you think? You got it or not?"

"Sorry, Lieutenant." Kenji gave his team leader an apologetic look. "With these damned relics I can't say for certain. Anyway all the working security feeds have been redirected to our omni-tools. We're good to go."

"Any sign of the objective?"

"I've found doctor Gordon, Sir." Cyra's heartbeat quickened when the Private called up a camera view, showing the archaeologist sitting on a bed. "He's right where he's supposed to be. But I cant find his assistant or the mobile unit _or _doctor Strangelove anywhere."

"Who?"

"The professor. I just can't remember the guy's name." Kenji explained with a helpless shrug.

"Traitorous POS will do for that son of a bitch I'd say." The maiden growled. "All right, Private disable the console. Guzzman!" She turned to the medic, pointing at the captured mercenaries. "Put them to sleep. Get ready to move out everybody."

* * *

In the small room, serving as his cell, Alex became more and more restless. He couldn't quite explain it, couldn't quite put a finger on it but he just felt that something was going on. And where the hell had they taken Lien? The mercenary Leader and a handful of his cronies had picked her up the day before and he hadn't seen the young woman ever since. For a lack of something better to do, the scientist got up from his bed and began pacing around the small room. If only he knew what the hell was happening it would have made the situation a little more bearable. Although, thinking about it some more, he wasn't sure he really wanted to know. Suddenly he pricked up his ears. Someone was coming.

"Get out there, Human!" Alex flinched when a Batarian snarled at him through the opening door.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Shut up and move!" With the merc waving his gun around, Alex figured it was better if he just did as told. There was another merc, a young Human waiting outside. The scientist's eyes narrowed when he recognized him. He'd been one of the shitheads that'd assaulted the girls a while back. He couldn't be much more than seventeen, eighteen years old. Too young and possibly too stupid to realize what he'd tried to do to Ashley and Lien.

"Let's go." The Batarian led the way and Alex got the other merc's gun jammed into his ribs when he didn't follow right away.

"Where are we going?" He wanted to know.

"You'll see soon enough, Human." The Batarian snapped. "Now shut up."

The scientist briefly looked over his shoulder at the youngster behind him. He wasn't entirely certain but they seemed to be nervous.

* * *

"Lieutenant, you need to see this."

Cyra immediately gave the signal to halt and moved over to Kenji. "What's up, Private?"

"Two mercs just collected the doctor, Sir." The maiden knelt down and stared at the hologram, projected by the tech's omni-tool for a second.

"Any idea where they're headed?"

"Negative, not yet."

"Keep an eye on it." Cyra didn't hesitate to get going again. "Move out. Keep an eye on them, Private. Guide us as best as you can."

"Will do, Sir."

* * *

"Have you any idea what's going on?" The young Human mercenary, pushing Alex through the corridor asked. Yep, that guy at least _was_ nervous. Very much so. The question being whether that did bode well for the scientist or not. Alex mulled over it for a moment then decided he'd rather not think about it too much. He was scared enough as it was.

"No, I fucking don't." The Batarian, walking at the head of the small group, snapped in annoyance. "We were in the same fucking room when we received the same fucking orders, remember? So why would I fucking know any fucking more than you huh?."

"This is fucking bullshit, man." The youngster complained. "Why don't..."

"Look." Alex almost walked into the Batarian when he suddenly stopped and turned around. "We can either just do as we were told and be done with it or you can call the XO and demand and explanation." The young Human blanched but said nothing. Alex couldn't really tell the age of the Batarian but it was obvious that he was the more seasoned one of the two. "No? Then stop being a fucking pain in the neck and fucking shut up."

* * *

Cyra's eyes narrowed as she watched the short exchange. They were reasonably close and the mercs were coming in their direction. She pondered over the base blueprints showing this section of the structure, trying to figure out the best way to take out the mercs without putting Alex at risk any more that absolutely necessary. They couldn't go in guns blazing that much was certain. While neither of the mercs, strangely enough, wore their helmets, they were wearing armour and kinetic barriers had the nasty habit of producing ricochets when fired at. Utterly harmless if you were wearing a combat suit yourself but potentially lethal if you didn't. The maiden's mind worked quickly, weighing the pros and cons of different approaches.

In the end she decided she'd go in alone. Her marines were good, yes, but they just didn't have the same hand to hand training she'd gotten and when it came to Alex' life she wasn't going to take any chances. She called the soldiers together, gave a quick overview what she intended and told them to take up positions at several junctions in case anyone else came their way.

"Sir?" Cyra was surprised to hear Kenji speak after she'd finished. "Can I go with you?"

"No." The maiden shook her head. "Keep looking for the other objectives, Private." She turned to the other marines. "Take your positions. Go." A quick flash of a smile behind the visor and the young Asari was gone, disappearing around a corner like a ghost, barely making a sound at all.

* * *

After that last exchange, Alex followed the mercenary in front of him in silence. He was of course still wondering where he was being taken to but the scientist knew better than to ask. He just kept staring blankly at the back of the Batarian's head, trying to keep his mind from coming up with possible horror scenarios as to what was in store for him.

As they came past a junction the leading merc's stride suddenly slowed and he raised his head slightly. He seemed to listen but before he could do anything else, a glowing something whizzed through the air and slammed into the side of the Batarian's neck. Alex froze, watching in stunned disbelief as the the mercenary fell to the ground. Spitting blood, gurgling as the rolled on the floor his hand uselessly clutching the hilt of the knife.

"Shit!" The youngster behind him blurted out as the Batarian gasped one last time then lay still. "Shit! What the fuck...what the..." The boy's voice trembled and failed for a moment. In a state of mind that seemed be close to panic he roughly grabbed Alex from behind, intending to use him as a Human shield. His own heart beating furiously the archaeologist offered no resistance. He had no idea what to do so he did nothing as the merc called for help on the radio. The scientist couldn't hear the response but the frightened youngster said 'okay' then pushed him forward, glancing into the connecting corridor over the scientist's shoulder.

"I can't see nobody." The merc almost shrieked, talking to his superior. "No goddamnit! I can't hear anything either I..." The hand holding the sub-machine gun was suddenly ripped away from Alex's shoulder and the Human drew breath with a start.

"Drop it asshole." The archaeologist heard somebody whisper. "You make any quick movement, you attempt to talk to your cronies, you so much as clear your throat and I'll put this right in your liver. Then you'll go slowly. And in considerable pain."

The scientist flinched when the merc's SMG hit the floor with a loud smack. He didn't dare to turn around, scared of what he might see. Was the assailant from a rescue team or from a rival mercenary unit? Perhaps even slavers or worse?

"Alex." The archaeologist's jaw dropped. That voice! He whirled around and gaped at the scene before him in amazement. A heavily armoured female held the ashen-faced youngster in a painful looking joint lock, jamming a knife into the small slit between two of his suit's armour plates. With the visor down, he couldn't see her face very well but he recognized the suit, even though the N7 sign and the red stripe on the right shoulder were missing. "Are you okay?"

"Cyra!? Is that...!?" Was all he could stammer.

"Of course it's me!" The maiden hissed. "Get behind the corner, close to the wall and stay low." The scientist mechanically did as he was told, Cyra going back to dealing with the mercenary. The maiden loosened her grip just a little and forced the boy down with a vicious kick in the knee pit. With her knife she forced open two small flaps on his back plate and smashed both the primary and the back up radio. "All right scumbag." She then hissed. "You've been calling for help. How many of you knuckleheads are coming?"

The young man's lower lip trembled but he tried to be brave and said nothing. Alex cringed when his girlfriend twisted the kid's arm, pulling his right shoulder out of its socket with a wet smack.

"How many!?" Cyra snapped as the mercenary screamed in pain.

"Ten, twelve." The merc managed to whimper. "I don't know, maybe more."

"Where are they coming from!? How far away!?"

"I don't know." Cyra pushed the mercenary to the floor, grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head back, pressing her knee into the Human's dislocated shoulder. After a few moments Alex covered his ears with his hands, trying to block out the youngsters screams but it didn't do much good. "I don't know!" The merc howled over and over again until the Asari relieved the pressure from his joint. "Lu...Lurz only said they'd be here in a few minutes."

Cyra immediately called her men. "Heads up people we've got company coming, direction unknown. Watanabe check the cams, they could be pretty close already." As her marines confirmed the reception of her transmission, the maiden pressed her blade against the merc's neck, intending to slit his throat but Alex stopped her.

"Wait." The scientist said when he realized what she was about to do. "Is this really necessary? I mean..." His voice trailed off.

Time seemed to almost stand still. Tears were running down the mercenary's face and a few droplets of blood tickled down his throat. At first Cyra wanted to tell Alex that it was safer that way but the distraught look on her boyfriend's face made her reconsider. The maiden took away the blade from the young Human's throat then knocked him out, slamming the pommel against the side of his head. She walked over to the other merc's corpse and pulled her other knife out of the dead Batarian's neck.

"Okay, let's go." Still somewhat shocked the scientist didn't move right away. Cyra had her Visor slide upwards, grabbed her boyfriend by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Alex we need to get back to the squad." She said, forgetting that he had now way of knowing about the extent of the rescue operation. "Hey." Cyra shook the archaeologist gently making the glazed look in his eyes finally disappear.

"Yes, of course." Alex shook his head to clear it and even managed a smile. Although he hadn't a lot of experience, handling firearms he figured he'd better arm himself and bent down to pick up the unconscious merc's sub-machine gun from the floor. Cyra however kicked it away immediately.

"Alex, don't even think about it." She said before he could offer a protest. "Don't try and be a hero, you hear? If we run into trouble, get your head down, your ass out of harms way and let me handle it." When he didn't answer right away she the maiden again grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Promise me!"

"Umm sure. I promise." The scientist said a little lamely but Cyra seemed to be satisfied by it. Her visor came down again.

"Let's go."

* * *

Within the marines' improvised defensive perimeter, tension rose steadily. Ever since they got the heads-up from the LT they'd been watching for any movement, their heart rates skyrocketing whenever they heard the slightest sound. Kenji, the eyes fixed on the projection generated by his omni-tool, was quickly switching from camera to camera as he tried to find the incoming opposition. Several times the Private cursed mentally as he came across malfunctioning equipment. Like his buddies he became more and more taut and when he finally did spot a group of mercs approaching he was almost relieved.

"Mike." He whispered, causing the other man to flinch slightly. "Watch your one o'clock, you've got incoming in a minute."

"Copy." The Corporal replied in a low voice and lifted his carbine, pointing it in the direction Kenji told him. Beside him Goldstein did the same but Mike didn't notice, listening with half an ear to the SITREP the tech sent to their Lieutenant. The maiden acknowledged the report and gave everybody instructions to fall back to Mike's position. "Wait as long as possible before opening fire. Keep them at bay. I'll try to catch them form the side." She said. Then the radio went silent.

Mike stared in the direction the mercs were supposed to be coming from an brooded over the situation for a moment. Goldstein and him were in a fairly decent defensive position, looking down a wide, open hall the mercs obviously used as a storage room. The problem was that all those crates and boxes would provide good cover for their enemies. He ducked down, whispering to his buddy to do the same. "Kenny." He then addressed the tech, pulling out a hand grenade from one of his pockets. "I need you to give the go-ahead. As soon as the room fills up we'll let them eat a couple of grenades."

"Will do."

Mike swallowed. He had to admit he'd feel better if the LT stood behind him, calling the shots. Bloody crazy that a mere Corporal was, if only temporary, in charge. Time seemed slow down to a crawl as they waited and the young man began to wonder if the mercs had suddenly changed their route when he finally heard movement.

"Five seconds." He heard Kenji whisper over the radio. Mike pulled the safety pin out of his grenade and breathed deeply.

"Go!"

* * *

"Here we go." Cyra muttered under her breath when several detonations rocked building in rapid succession, sound of an intense fire fight erupting close by. The maiden had to suppress the urge to run, instead taking a few moments to study the floor plan. She'd be of no use to anybody if she blindly walked into a crossfire. The Asari Lieutenant glanced at the status lights of her marines, showing in a corner of her head-up display. So far none of them had been seriously hit. Good. Now she only needed to keep it that way. Cyra drew her side arm, took Alex' hand and pulled him along with her, staying as close to cover as she could in case something bad came their way.

* * *

"Grenade!" Goldstein yelled as the explosive device hit the door frame, bounced off and span on the floor for a moment. Mike was barely able to duck behind his cover before it went off, the nearby blast making his teeth rattle. He peeked around the corner and let go a burst from his carbine. He could see a few bodies, lying motionless on the floor but there were plenty of mercs still alive and kicking, sending streams of bullets his way. He crouched down quickly. Damn, the fight had only just begun and he already noticed that his cover was getting ropey. Things were rapidly becoming really unpleasant. He quickly looked behind him, cursing when he saw that Johanson wasn't here yet. Her machine gun would have cleared the room by now.

* * *

Cyra pushed Alex against the wall as grenade fragments whizzed through the hallway, pinging off the walls. She could see the marines' position now. As the tracers criss-crossed further down the corridor, chattering of the weapons reverberating through the building, she went through a door into a dusty, derelict office that had obviously not been in use for years. Cyra checked the map again. Perfect. If nothing had been radically changed since construction the maiden figured she ought to be able to use these offices to get in the back of the mercs unseen.

"Come on." She whispered just loud enough that Alex could understand her over the muffled noise of the fire fight. The maiden took his hand and pulled him along, pistol in her other hand. Once they came across a wall that didn't show on the map and Cyra almost thought she'd have to scrap the plan. But then it turned out to be just a cheap, flimsy layer of plastic she could easily cut through with one of her knives. Once she reached the desired location the young Asari peeked around the corner to get a better look.

"Coming up on their rear." Cyra let her marines know over the open squad channel. "Watch what you shoot at and no more grenades. Acknowledge."

"Roger, no more grenades." Goldstein and Leh replied almost simultaneously as Cyra turned to Alex.

"Stay here." She said softly. "Keep your head down and don't move, no matter what happens. I'll be right back."

The scientist gulped but before he could say anything Cyra was already gone. Just darted around the corner with one of her daggers in her right and her pistol in the other hand. Despite of what he'd been asked, Alex moved up to the corner and peeked around. He knew he'd probably be better off without seeing what was about to happen but he just couldn't help it. His curiosity usually got the better of him, that was nothing new.

With graceful, swinging steps Cyra snuck up on the mercenaries. She counted six of them, all Humans or Batarians by the looks of it, ducking down behind crates and taking cover wherever else they could. The two the closest to her never knew what killed them. The Asari got them both by severing their spinal columns with a lightning quick stab to the soft backs of their helmets, right above the armoured collar of their suits. The third merc saw her coming out of the corner of his eye and shouted a warning as he was turning towards her. The glowing knife painted a bright streak of light into the air as Cyra threw it through the merc's transparent visor. A loud gasp and he collapsed on the spot as the maiden leaped behind a storage container, merc number four firing his assault rifle in her direction.

The intensity of the gunfire, coming from the marine positions, increased abruptly as two of the last three mercenaries left their cover to deal with the threat in their backs. Bullets zipped through the air and Cyra heard a scream very close by. As she glanced past the storage box an amour clad Human, one of the few female members of the sellsword posse they'd come across thus far, attempted to jump at her. The maiden dodged the attempt easily and lashed out with her biotics, knocking the woman's gun out of her hands.

With an angry outcry the merc launched herself at the Asari, intending to bring her down with bare hands. She was pretty skilled, the maiden noticed. Fast, physically strong and obviously this wasn't her first melee. Against Cyra however she didn't have the slightest chance. With years of hard training with some of the best teachers in hand to hand combat and a fair bit of practical experience under her belt, the special forces marine was just way too good. The short struggle ended with the other woman crashing head first into a wall. Like a battered prize fighter, the merc shakily tried to get back on her feet but couldn't. Cyra picked up her pistol from the floor, intending to finish off her opponent but the last of the mercs still standing, pinned down by the marines, decided he didn't want to die just for the heck of it, threw his gun away and slowly rose with the hand above his head.

As the gunfire ceased the maiden knelt down next to the weakly moaning female mercenary and made sure the woman was no longer a threat. "Clear!" She then shouted.

Leh and Goldstein were slowly and carefully coming out of their position, checking up and down the hallway then pointing their guns at the hired gun's head. "Clear!"

Cyra made a general inquiry if anyone had noticed any other signs of trouble. When she got nothing but negatives back she ordered Guzzman to check on everybody, the fallen mercenaries included. Most importantly though...

"Alex?"

"Yeah, I'm here." The scientist emerged from his hiding place. He looked a little pale but seemed to be okay otherwise.

"Hey doc." Mike briefly opened his visor to splash some water from one of his two canteens in his face after they'd taken she scientist into the small defensive perimeter. "Good to you see you in one piece."

"Good to see you too." Alex replied as the medic gave him a quick checkup. He looked from marine to marine his face assuming some of its natural colour. "Good to see all of you in fact." He turned to the young Asari who was lounging about nearby, realizing that he hadn't even said hello to Cyra. "Especially you."

Mike couldn't resist. He let out a loud 'awwww'.

"Shut up, Corporal." His Lieutenant snarled. "And close your damn visor we're still in hostile territory." The maiden tensely looked around, her eyes momentarily resting on the captured enemies. "There's got to be more of their kind around here somewhere."

"Yes Sir." Mike quickly did as he was told, blushing slightly in the process. In the elation after the fire fight he'd almost forgotten where they were. He forced himself to simmer down as he pressed the canteen's bottlecap into the induction port in his helmet and took a few sips of water. This was not the time to be reckless. Right next to him the medic finished her scan of the archaeologist and stood up.

"All right, doc, you're fit as a fiddle." Guzzman said, tapping Alex on the shoulder before she walked off towards the captives.

"Well at least they took proper care of you." Cyra muttered, throwing an angry glance at the mercs before she turned to her boyfriend. The maiden would have like nothing better than to throw her helmet away and give Alex a hug. Alas that had to wait at least until they were back on the ship.

"Yeah." Purposefully not looking towards where the medic was examining the dead, the scientist managed to conjure up one of the boyish smirks, Cyra had come to adore. "More or less anyway. The service wasn't exactly five star worthy but still."

The young Asari suppressed a snicker and turned to Kenji. "Private found anything yet?"

"Nothing." Came the answer immediately. "No sign of any of the other objectives anywhere on the cams but there's a lot of malfunctioning equipment in here so they could still be around."

"Alex, have you any idea where your assistant or our artificial friend are?"

"I wished I did." The archaeologist sighed heavily. "They picked Lien up, I don't know, maybe twelve hours ago? Haven't seen her since."

"Don't supposed they gave you an explanation, did they?"

"Afraid not."

Frowning in annoyance the Cyra ordered Guzzman and Goldstein to ask the captives for information before putting them to sleep. They would be properly interrogated later of course but there was no harm in questioning them for a few minutes. As it turned out the young woman and 'the weird VI' had been taken off world but apparently the mercs, staying behind, hadn't been told where to. The maiden had to restrain the compulsion to yell out in frustration. Goddamnit they were too late! She would still have to call down reinforcements to comb through the base. Just to be certain. But Cyra instinctively knew that the captured sellswords were telling the truth. As the surviving mercenaries were drugged and locked up in a small room, the Asari Lieutenant was contemplating how to best proceed from here on.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Kenji raising his head, listening intently. "Lieutenant." He whispered a moment later. "I think I heard something."

All around the marines froze, some of them in the middle of a motion. Goldstein and Guzzman slowly walked back to their squad mates' positions, moving as silently as they could. They were almost there when Goldstein noticed movement from the corner of his eye. His eyes widened when he looked in this direction.

"Watch it!" He shouted pushing Guzzman away as a Krogan came charging down the hallway with a deafening roar. The marine tried to get out of the way but didn't quite make it. The huge merc caught him in the middle of the motion and Goldstein got flung through the air like a toy doll.

Things now seemed to happen almost simultaneously. Kenji shouted a warning and a hand grenade flew out of the corridor Petrow and Nguyen were supposed to cover. Distracted by the charging Krogan they didn't react right away. Nguyen only had enough time to throw himself at his fellow marine, jostling him just out of harms way, before the device went off right underneath him. The young man's body got thrown about one way, his legs in the other. A second Krogan stormed into the wide corridor a shotgun in his paws.

Cyra picked up her carbine and pushed Alex through an open door into a dusty room, not realizing that he was clutching his side his face twisted with pain. Behind her Corporal Leh came off the floor, sprinting towards the Krogan he was about to point his gun at Petrow. Mike jumped onto the massive merc's back to keep him from shooting at his buddy. The Krogan threw off the marine effortlessly, sending him sprawling against a wall. Several more mercenaries spilled into the corridor, one of them took the biotic blast, meant for the Krogan, right in the face. Cyra brought the carbine to her shoulder, pointing it down the hall but she could only watch as Mike took a point blank shotgun blast to the stomach.

"Everybody down!" As Cyra dove into the room she'd pushed Alex in, the mercs opening up on her, she caught a glimpse of Johanson, standing at the opposite side of the hallway. A fraction of a second later Kelly cut loose with her machine gun. The heavy weapon was unwieldy, inaccurate and difficult to control due to the enormous recoil. But in a narrow corridor with little cover to hide behind it was devastatingly effective. One or two of the mercenaries were able to retreat back into the corridor from where they'd come from. The rest literally got torn to pieces. Not even the Krogan could withstand the withering fire for more than a second or two. After the firestorm had ceased Cyra darted back out the door, oblivious to the bloody hands her boyfriend was pressing against his side.

With a scream of rage Petrow finally came back to his feet, arming a grenade. "Choke on this, motherfuckers!" He yelled and threw it into the side corridor. Another explosion rocked the structure as the marine snatched his gun from the ground and blindly emptied a five round magazine of rifle grenades into the opening. The marine leaned around the corner and spent several thermo clips as he fired his carbine at the retreating mercenaries, screaming like crazy.

A cry for help from behind her had Cyra spinning around. Over in the other room Guzzman was trying to keep the Krogan at bay. The medic was astonishingly nimble. She had lost her sub-machine gun but so far had been able to dodge all of the mercenary's attacks and had even managed to knock the weapon out of his hands. However it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever.

"Not bad little girl." The rumble in the Krogan's throat sounded almost like a laugh. He was so absorbed in his chase of Guzzman that he'd forgotten everything else going on around him. The massive merc charged at the much smaller Human. Cyra started to run as the Krogan threw a storage crate at the medic. It only grazed woman but it made her stumble nonetheless. The mercenary stormed towards Guzzman before she'd recovered and had almost reached her when a biotic blast stopped him cold. As the medic dove to the side, going for her sub-machine gun the huge reptilian went after the new threat with another roar. By going after the special forces Lieutenant the Krogan bit off much more than he could chew but he would only realize that when it was too late. Rather than simply dodging the charge, Cyra lashed out with her leg, hitting one of the merc's ankles. Not hard but it was enough to completely throw him out of balance. The entire building seemed to shake when the Krogan lost his footing and crashed into a wall.

Behind the maiden Guzzman fired her SMG at the mercenary and Cyra raised her carbine and pulled the trigger. The focused fire overloaded the Krogan's kinetic barriers before he'd fully recovered. With her tumb Cyra switched to the twenty millimetre grenade launcher. The gun kicked fiercely as it spat out an armour piercing dart. The hypersonic projectile smashed through the mercenary's helmet and the plate on his head crest before the small explosive filler went off, splattering bits of the Krogan's helmet, blood and brain matter all over the room.

It took Cyra a second to realize that the sounds of combat had ceased, after the merc had fallen over. She went over to Guzzman and pulled her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Think so." The Human breathed. "But Goldstein got mauled pretty badly. I need..."

"Mediiiiic!" Kelly's roar, coming out of the nearby corridor, cut into the conversation. "Guzzman! Get your ass over here! Mike's hit! Badly!"

The Human hesitated, glancing at Goldstein's motionless form. "Go!" The maiden ordered, pushing the medic away. "I'll check out Goldstein."

As Guzzman ran off with a nod, Cyra quickly went over to the marine and started scanning him. To her relief, other than a bad concussion, there seemed to be nothing wrong with him. The private moaned, mumbling something unintelligible when she turned him around. The young Asari put her hands under the marines armpits and dragged him into the perimeter. No that there was much left that deserved the description. Petrow and Watanabe were watching one access point, Kelly another and down on the floor Guzzman was frantically working on Corporal Leh, injecting drugs and dispersing medi-gel. That last attack had shaken up the squad quite a bit.

Cyra settled Goldstein against a wall and made sure he was reasonably comfortable then called Kenji over to watch this side of the strong point. She was about to walk over to the medic to see how Mike was doing when she heard Alex's soft voice calling her.

"Cyra?" He said hoarsely. "I...I got a little problem here."

The maiden's eyes widened when she finally noticed his bloody hands. "Shit!" She exclaimed and swiftly went to his side. "No no no." She breathed, as some giant invisible hand seemed to squeeze her chest. "Not you...Not you too..."

"D...don't think it's that bad." The scientist groaned. "I'm...I'm still standing so it can't be...right?"

"Come on, sit down." Cyra almost carried her boyfriend over to a dusty table. "Let me take a look." Solicitude made her impatient and her voice got considerably louder when he didn't do as asked right away. "Alex take your hands away for crying out loud!" The maiden barked. "I need to see it."

The young Asari expelled her breath in an explosive 'phew' when she examined the shrapnel wound in the archaeologist's side. It looked nasty, jagged and bleeding profusely like it was, and was certainly painful but ultimately it was only a flesh wound. A decent shot of medigel and it would be fully healed in a couple of hours. To make absolutely certain that there was no deeper damage Cyra activated her omni too and let the scanning beam wander over the torn flesh before she sprayed gel from her suit's supply on Alex's side. The scientist's breathing got more regular as the pain faded away, soothed by the medigel's analgesic properties.

"Thanks." Alex sighed with relief as the young Asari wrapped a bandage around his midriff.

Cyra didn't answer right away, resting against the table next to her boyfriend instead. The maiden had to resist the overwhelming urge to sit down in a corner, close her eyes and forget about everything for a moment. "Gee, Alex." She eventually said. "Don't you..."

"Lieutenant?" The urgency of the caller's voice made Cyra look up. "Lieutenant." Guzzman repeated. "We have a problem. Come quickly."

Adrenaline shooting into her system, the maiden perked up immediately. "More bad guys on the way?" She asked curtly as she dashed through the door, unaware that Alex was following her.

"No, so far the coast seems to be clear." Cyra found the medic kneeling next to one of her marines' sprawled out form. Her stride frequency slowed, when she noticed the body bag close by. "Nguyen, Sir." Guzzman said flatly. "Grenade basically tore him in half. He was already dead when I got to him."

"I see." The young Asari gulped, struggling against the lump in her throat for a second. She shook her head faintly, banning thoughts of the dead marine from her mind as she squatted down next to the medic. Right now she'd have to see to it that no one else died. There would be time to grief later. "How's the Corporal."

"That's the problem, Sir." Guzzman sighed, pointing at Mike's abdomen. Thick bandages covered multiple packs of medigel. The floor underneath was coated in blood. "Unless we can get him to a hospital...a good hospital...he won't..." The medic's voice petered out but then she pulled herself together and gave her Lieutenant an overview of the Corporal's state.

Cyra didn't really listen however. She was busy going through the different options in her mind. Once before she'd had one of her people bite the dust in a similar manner. She wasn't going to let that happen again if she could possibly help it.

"How much time does he have?" The maiden wanted to know.

"I can keep him alive for..." Guzzman paused and bit her lower lip. "...twelve, eighteen hours maybe. A day if we're _really_ lucky. Anyway the sooner we get him properly treated the better."

"What about the sickbay on the frigate?"

"Not well enough equipped." Guzzman shook her head. "Mike needs a clinic with state of the art organ cloning facilities."

"Yes but could you keep him alive longer in sickbay?"

Guzzman contemplated for a moment. "No, I got everything I need with me. There's nothing that would..."

Cyra jumped to her feet before the medic could finish, unwilling to waste anymore time. "Get him on a stretcher and get ready to move out!" She barked. "That goes for all of you! Watanabe!"

"Sir?"

"Get the CIC on the horn, give the Captain a report of the situation and call down the back up teams." The maiden didn't even hear the Private's 'Aye Sir'. She was already calling Lieutenant Murphy who was patiently waiting with his dropship somewhere nearby. "Murph, come in, do you read?"

"Loud and Clear, Shep." It took the pilot only a second to answer but that was already too much for Cyra's taste. "What's..."

"Murphy we, need you over here right away!" She cut him off immediately. "We got a critical casualty who needs an evac pronto!" With a quick wave of the hand she ordered Guzzman to get Goldstein on his feet and ready to move while giving the dropship jockey a more detailed overview of the state of affairs.

"On my way." The pilot simply said. Over on the other side of the hallway, the medic gave her fellow marine a generous dose of a drug that allowed him to function with reasonable efficiency before she helped him to his feet. Nevertheless the Private faltered slightly as he picked up a carbine from the floor. Cyra looked around. Her marines, those who were still standing anyway, were all close by ready to move.

"Okay folks, listen up!" She said loudly. "We got to get Leh to the dropship as quickly as we can. Guzzman, Watanabe, you carry the Corporal. Petrow, you and I take point. Goldstein how are you?"

"I'm okay." The marine said but judging by his clipped speech, the Private wasn't at his best right now. No surprise there.

"You and Johanson cover the rear. Everybody got that?" Nods and mumbled acknowledgements answered the maiden. She turned to her boyfriend. "Alex you stay in the middle. Let's go."

"I could help carrying the stretcher." The archaeologist suggested. "You'd have one more gun ready to fight and I could make myself useful."

Cyra blinked. She hadn't even thought of that. She eyed the scientist through half closed eyes. His posture looked reasonably relaxed. Apparently the medigel was doing good work but still... "Are you sure?" She simply asked, throwing a meaningful glance at his side.

"Yes, I'm sure." Alex seemed to become a little bolder. "That scratch isn't going to keep me down." He added with a hint of his trademark boyish grin that Cyra adored so much.

"That's the spirit, doc." Kelly smirked and gave the scientist an appreciative tap on his shoulder.

"Allright then." The Asari Lieutenant nodded. "Watanabe you're rear guard then. Goldstein you're right behind me." Medic and Archaeologist knelt down to pick up the stretcher. Alex grimaced a little but didn't show any other signs of pain. "Let's move!" The marines fell into their positions. "You see anything moving that's not us or one of the other objectives, fucking blow it away!"

As the group was moving through the structure the maiden received an update from the frigate, saying that the ship would be overhead in a few minutes, dropping two additional squads of marines to properly comb through the compound. It was probably going to be a waste of time, Cyra figured, but it needed to be done anyway. They needed to be absolutely certain that they didn't miss anything. She acknowledged the transmission gave the Captain a quick update of her own, telling him about her decision to evacuate the wounded with the dropship.

"Guzzman." Cyra suddenly said softly as the posse made its way towards the primary pick up point, moving as quickly as they could without being reckless. "Any idea where the nearest suitable hospital is?"

"Been trying to figure that out actually." The medic whispered back. "So far I can't think of any closer than the citadel. I'm afraid I don't know too much about clinics here in the traverse though."

"Right." The maiden said and called Lieutenant Murphy again. "Murph, how long does it take you from here to the citadel, best speed?"

"Thirteen, fourteen hours, I'd say." Came the slow, drawn out answer as the pilot went over the question in his head. "With wartime emergency power I suppose I could shave off half an hour or so."

Cyra ordered a brief halt so that Guzzman and Alex could put down the stretcher for a moment to take a breather. "Well?" She asked the medic.

"I'd feel better if we could find somewhere closer to be honest." Guzzman said, relaxing her shoulder muscles. "But it should do."

"Anyone knows of a better destination?" The maiden looked from marine to marine.

"I know of a couple of clinics reasonably close." Alex spoke up. "But I don't really know how well they're equipped."

"We can't really have our dropship swoop down at a terminus colony and drop off Mike on the stairs of one of their hospitals can we?" Kelly objected loudly. "I mean for one they'd most likely arrest him on the spot and I don't want to imagine what would happen to him then." The Amazon shuddered with disgust. "Probably would be used as a bargaining chip in some silly-ass political game."

"If it made the difference between life or death for him I'd risk that." Cyra snapped. "But whatever, move out! Anyone has any bright idea on the way, by all means let me know."

Thankfully the squad didn't have any more run-ins with with hostile forces on the way out of the compound. Once or twice Cyra thought she heard movement close by but she never saw anything. "Murph what's your status?" She inquired when the marines reached the exit.

"In position and waiting for you guys."

"We're almost there. How's it looking outside? Any trouble in sight?"

"Negative. Everything is quiet."

"Okay we're coming out now." Cyra tapped on Petrow's shoulder and pointed at the door. Despite the heavily armed dropship, hovering menacingly close by, the marines carefully checked their surroundings as they moved out in the open. No merc in his or her right mind would stick their heads out when they were facing heavy guns just waiting for targets. However one always had to reckon with the occasional crazy. Someone who'd snapped by losing a friend or something along those lines. Just one well aimed hand grenade could ruin the squad's day very thoroughly indeed. With her marines' guns pointing in every direction the maiden signalled Murphy to come in and land.

The dropship slid over at once, turning its rear towards the waiting troopers before setting it down. The ramp was already open when the wheels touched the ground and Alex and the medic immediately proceeded to carry Mike into the ship, setting the stretcher down on the hard metal floor.

The Asari Lieutenant turned to Goldstein. "You too." She said with a head movement towards the spacecraft.

"What? Oh come on, LT." The slight slur was unmistakeable. "I can still..."

"No discussion! We're being reinforced so you might just as well get out of here and get your head sorted."

"Aye aye Sir." The Human sighed and trotted into the ship with hanging shoulders.

"Had an epiphany by any chance, Guzzman?" Cyra wanted to know from the bottom of the ramp.

"Nope." The medic replied absently as she folded down one of the dropship's built in cots that were specifically designed to transport wounded. "Citadel still seems like the best option to me. If we go to any of the closer clinics and it turns out that they're not well enough equipped we'd be wasting more time than we have."

"Right, the citadel it is then, but in case you or anybody else comes up with a better alternative after all, don't hesitate to change course. You hear that, Murph?"

"Change destination on Guzzman's call, Roger that."

"That's it and stop for nothing you hear?"

"Don't worry, Shep, I'll get your boys and girls home safe and sound."

"You'd better."

"One, two, three." One the medic's count Alex and Guzzman lifted the stretcher onto the cot and secured it with the dedicated clasps. The female marine checked the time, gave Mike another quick checkup and injected a drug into the suit's life support system. Then she turned to the archaeologist, pointing at his side. "Let me take a look at that, doc."

"It's just a scratch." He said absently, looking at his girlfriend.

"Let me see it anyway." Guzzman commanded. "No offence but I think I know more about combat wounds than you do."

The simple logic of the medic's argument made the scientist blush in embarrassment and he lifted up his shirt. Guzzman took away the bandage and eyed the wound, making sure that the medigel was properly applied.

Getting impatient Cyra walked up the ramp. "Come on guys strap yourselves in. Time's a wasting!"

"Aye, sir." The medic quickly put the bandage back in place and sat down.

"Cyra?" Alex' voice stopped her as she was about to walk away. "Take care okay?"

"Don't worry, I will." The maiden briefly opened her visor and blew her boyfriend a kiss. "See you on the citadel." She jumped off the ramp. "All right, Murph, you're good to go."

"Copy that, we're outta here."

The engine nose increased drastically and the dropship rose into the air, the rear ramp slowly closing. Cyra's eyes followed the spacecraft for a few moments before facing the rest of her marines. On the horizon the silhouette of the alliance stealth frigate appeared, growing rapidly. Petrow handed the Lieutenant her carbine. Time to get back to work.

* * *

That's it for now.

Take care.


	16. Chapter 16

With a soft groan Cyra sat down at the top of the metal platform and took her helmet off as she impassively watched about a dozen prisoners trudge into the frigate, guarded by a handful marines. She felt awfully tired, now that the adrenaline was subsiding. The cap of the maiden's canteen rasped softly as she slowly unscrewed it. She took a sip, rolling the water from one side of the mouth to the other several times before swallowing it down. At the bottom of the ramp there was a row of body bags, waiting to be carried inside. Wasn't a particularly nice feeling that she was responsible for the dead bodies in some of them but one Cyra had learned to live with a quite a while ago.

At least the mop-up hadn't been too much of a problem. The handful of mercs left hadn't put up much of a fight. Cyra neither knew nor cared what was waiting for their opponents and by the looks of it they didn't either. But obviously the sellswords had figured it had to be better than to die on a remote planet. The maiden morosely stared at the large, grey structure. Somewhere in there were IT specialists trying to pull everything they could out of the computer and it took way too long for Cyra's taste. She just wanted to get away from this place and get back to the citadel, wanted to know how Mike was doing, wanted to see Alex. Preferably alone in her family's apartment in the presidium.

"Goddamn it." She whispered. "Hurry up and just get it done already will you?"

* * *

From his hiding place in the bushes one Human mercenary, his name was Patrick, watched as the Alliance frigate took off and flew away. At least he thought the attackers had been Alliance. He hadn't seen any markings on the ship or any of the soldiers but who else could it have been?

Grimacing because of the pain the young Human emerged from the foliage. His right shoulder hurt like hell and the arm was pretty much useless. For a few moments Patrick had considered surrendering just to get medical treatment. But no, he didn't fancy getting thrown in jail or worse. After all he was lucky to be alive. He wasn't going to throw his life away needlessly now. Thinking about it brought the cold sweat to his forehead as he absently touched the scratch in his throat. It seemed as if he could still feel the blade.

Patrick dragged himself through the compound, heading for the main security room. He wasn't surprised to find the console had been disabled. Wasn't too much of a problem. He had a knack for fixing technical stuff. A skill he'd picked up during a childhood spent on a run down space station. That he could only really work with his left slowed repairs to the interstellar comm system down quite a bit but eventually one of the holo-screens lit up with the stand-by logo. It did take quite a few tries to get a proper connection though and Patrick was beginning to despair when finally the image of a Human male, working on some unidentifiable apparatus.

"Ah come on what now?" The man grumbled, turned around and walked towards the camera, wiping his hands with a greasy piece of cloth. His face brightened up at least a little bit when he recognized the caller. "Hey little brother, how's mercenary life? Did you..." He interrupted himself when he noticed his sibling's state. "Blimey, what the hell happened to you, Paddy?" He exclaimed. "You got mauled by a Krogan or something."

"Hi Dave." Patrick tried to scratch the back of his neck but stopped mid motion an grimaced as the pain shot through his system. "Yeah close enough. Listen, I don't wanna talk about it, okay?" He shifted in his chair, trying to get himself a little more comfortable. "Does your offer still stand?"

"What offer?" Dave leaned back and crossed the arms before his chest. "Oh _that_ offer? And here I thought, tacking through the galaxy in a freighter was not exciting enough for our little wannabe adventurer."

"Fu...!" The younger man's temper flared up but he managed to regain control before he got abusive. "Look Dave." Patrick forced himself to relax as best as he could. "You can tell me 'I told you so' all you damn well please later okay? I...look, I just wanna get out of here!"

Dave was obviously tempted to make another snarky comment but the air of desperation that had accompanied those last words stayed his tongue. "Of course the offer still stands, Paddy." He instead said calmly and pointed his thumb at the mess in the back of the room. "I certainly could use a good mechanic. Might keep the maintenance cost down a bit." He took a quick look at a data pad. "Listen I got a delivery to make then I'll come and pick you up...Where are you anyway?"

"Pragia."

"Pragia?" The older sibling echoed with dismay. "Are you kidding me? No way I'm going to take my ship in there. That area is way too hot."

"What?!" Patrick almost screamed. "Come on man! I just need to get the hell away from this place! Please!"

"You really got fucked up didn't you?" Dave observed dryly after his younger brother's outburst had gone by. "Hold on a moment. Let me check something."

Patrick's useable hand trembled a bit as he ran it over his thigh. His eyes locked onto the small first aid box mounted to the wall. Wondering why he hadn't thought of this before, shaking his head at his own stupidity, he moved over and took if off the wall. While he waited for Dave to come back the eighteen year old rummaged through the small box, taking out a single use injector. He ripped open the wrapping with his teeth and pressed the plastic cylinder against his neck. It hissed softly as it released a pain killing drug into his bloodstream. Patrick sighed with relief as the pain subsided. It wasn't going to snap his shoulder back into the socket but it was something. What the heck could his brother do off screen?

"All right kid." Patrick looked up as his brother's image reappeared. "I got an old, hmm...shall we say: acquaintance who's willing to come and pick you up. But..." The elder Human raised his hand when his sibling's face lit up. "...it's going to take quite a bit of cheddar."

"That won't be a problem." Patrick said quickly. "We all got a big bonus for...something. Ten thousand creds should be enough or?"

"More than enough." Dave raised an eyebrow, surprised that his little brother had this much disposable cash at hand. Again he vanished for a moment. "Okay she's promised to hop in her ship right away little brother. She ought to be there in...oh about half a day I guess. Better pack your bags and be ready. She'll want to get back out of the system as soon as possible."

"You bet I'll be ready." The younger man sighed as the tension waned. "Thanks man. I owe you one."

"Hey no worries little brother." Dave grinned. "Anyway just a fair warning: I wouldn't try anything with Ada if were you. She's not one you should attempt to pull over the barrel, if you know what I mean. So better be ready to hand over that credit chit."

"Of course." Patrick blinked. Something like that hadn't even occurred to him.

"Right see you back on the old rust bucket, kid. Out."

Patrick leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. His relief was almost palpable. At least he wasn't going to waste away in this god forsaken place. He was already on his way out of the room when he suddenly hesitated then turned around and sat back down at the computer console. After a moment of sifting through the system's files he typed in another comm code and waited.

* * *

To say that CR114 wasn't a particularly pretty to look at space station would have been quite the understatement. It was basically a bunch of metal spheres, connected by long tunnels, seemingly randomly arranged around a central hub. The station's ugly appearance wasn't a consequence of neglect however. On the contrary. Built right at the border between citadel space and the terminus systems it had served as a refuelling outpost during the great war.

As the entire galaxy had been focused to rebuild after the big catastrophe the flow of goods between council worlds and the better developed terminus planets steadily increased, CR114 became a well frequented stopover. Over time the station had turned into one of the more important trading ports along the border and had been constantly expanded until it looked like a hideous cousin of the Atomium back on earth.

Professor Cordalis didn't know about any of this of course and if he had he wouldn't have cared. All that was important to the rogue academic was that the station was well maintained and reasonably clean. Those last couple of weeks he'd felt like a fish out of water the entire time. He just couldn't wait to get rid of those damnable mercenary thugs and settle down in a nice, neat, well equipped lab where he could finally begin to properly study the ancient AI.

"Professor?"

"Hm?" Cordalis realised he'd been lost in thought, staring into his drink. "Oh sorry. What were you saying?"

"What's with the girl? Our instructions are to take you and this experimental VI with us." The academic found the Human, sitting on the other side of the table to be even more scary than the Krogan who'd brought him here. Wearing tight black suits and sunglasses him and his two associates, who were watching the bar from good vantage points, weren't exactly subtle. They were obviously mercenaries too. Although in council space one of course called their kind 'private military contractors'. Usually better equipped and more disciplined than their Terminus counterparts but in a way perhaps even more ruthless. "Nobody said anything about a woman."

"She's...well one could say she'd my assistant." Cordalis couldn't see a single muscle moving in the other Human's face but he somehow felt the scepticism. "Look I need her okay? She's vital for the project, the research."

"Fine." The PMC said calmly. "I suppose we can make room on our ship. Speaking of which, where is the package?"

"Locked up in a room together with the girl until he..." The academic pointed at the Krogan standing near the bar's entrance, looking thoroughly out of place in the fancy environment. "...gets the rest of his money."

"Ah yes, of course." The smirk appearing on the other Human's face wasn't of the friendly variety. "We'll get to that soon enough, don't worry. As a matter of fact I suggest we get on with it right now. You don't want to spend any longer than necessary on this station do you?"

"I most certainly do not." Cordalis smiled as the Krogan mercenary's communicator beeped.

* * *

"Don't be afraid, Lien." Charlie said at this very moment to the young woman who was walking around the small room in circles. "They won't hurt you."

"How can you possibly know that?" Lien stopped chewing at her fingernails for a second. "AI's have the gift of foresight or something nowadays?"

"Not precisely no." The AI chuckled softly. "But I've been able to watch the professor long enough to come to a conclusion or two. He needs you, Lien and he knows it. Because without you he has no leverage."

"Oh yeah now I feel much better." The young Human snapped. "To be kept around and threatened every time you don't wanna jump through one of this asshole's hoops. That sounds really nice! That...Damn it! I'm not even twenty yet!" She screamed then sat down in a corner and wiped a few tears off her face.

"I know it's not the life you dreamed of leading." The synthetic voice was full of compassion and Lien, already in the middle of standing up to protest, sat back down. "But I don't expect you will have to live that way for too long. Sooner or later the professor or someone working...wherever they're going to take us, will make a mistake."

"Yeah because we're just some imperfect carbon units huh?" The young woman snorted. "Not some super advanced AI."

"I'm not perfect Lien." This time Charlie laughed really loudly, startling Lien somewhat. "And neither do I aspire to be. Perfection sounds wonderful until you _really_ start thinking about it. Then it sounds awfully boring. You see..." There was a minute pause. "Ah don't listen to me. I'm just a silly old man who's lived way, way past his time."

Lien blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Charlie grumbled. "Nothing at all. See what I mean about me not being perfect? 'Cause if I was I wouldn't have said that and things would have remained nice and bo..." Without warning the AI stopped talking mid word and stayed silent for quite a while.

"Charlie?" Lien asked eventually. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm sorry." Came the answer. "I've been distracted there for a second."

"Distracted?" The young woman blankly looked around the empty room. "You're an AI. What in here could possibly distract you?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, Lien." Charlie spoke so softly that the Human could barely understand him. "Not yet."

The young woman wanted to inquire further but then _she_ was distracted by some kind of commotion outside the room.

* * *

"Take it easy big guy." The leader of the PMCs said as the bar went very, very quiet all of a sudden. Moving deliberately slowly the Human fished a credit chit out of one of his suit's pockets and put it on the table. "There's your money. Let's just close the deal and get this over with, shall we?"

"My company is destroyed Human!" Without even realizing it professor Cordalis took a few steps back as Tarec shouted loudly. "Destroyed! My men are either dead or got captured! I'm ruined Human! Ruined!"

Outwardly unruffled by the Krogan's yelling the PMC nodded towards the chit. "There's enough cold hard cash there for you to live a very comfortable life." He said cooly. "So why don't you just take it and hand over the package so that we can all go our merry way?"

"Nobody goes anywhere until I know what the heck is going on!"

"Not an option." Out of the corner of his eyes Cordalis could see the other two PMCs change their position slightly. Everybody else in the bar seemed to be frozen in place, himself included. "We're not..."

With an earsplitting roar Tarec bridged the gap between them and struck the other sellsword with a blow that would have killed most Humans outright. The PMC however was prepared. The Krogan had moved too quickly to dodge out of the way. Instead the Human moved with the punch and launched himself backwards. Most of the force of the attack fizzled out and the rest was absorbed by the light armour the PMC was wearing underneath the suit. The Human flew across a table, skillfully rolled on the floor and was back on his feet before most of the people in the bar even realized what had happened.

"One more time old boy." The PMC said with an eerie calmness as he pointed two top-of-the-line submachine guns at Tarec. "Take your money and walk. Or else..."

* * *

"What the..." Lien flinched and jumped away from the door as gunfire erupted outside the small chamber. The young woman wasn't exactly a firearms expert. In fact what little she knew about them came from vids. Nevertheless she thought she recognized the sounds of several SMGs and a single pistol over the noise of a panicking crowd. The fire fight didn't seem to last though and before long all that Lien could hear were people screaming, trying to run out of the bar. The young Human put her ear to the door trying to figure out what was happening.

"Move away from the door!" Somebody suddenly shouted and Lien did as she was told in a hurry. She shrieked and covered her ears when some kind of explosive charge tore a hole in the door.

"Get out there!" Weirdly enough Lien wasn't actually _that_ scared when she saw a guy wearing a suit and sunglasses beckoning her with a gun. Perhaps she got used to people pointing guns at her, she mused as she walked out the chamber, her ears still ringing from the bang. She found two more guys, similarly dressed outside. One of them seemed to be wounded. "Professor get your toy." Lien's face darkened as Cordalis brushed past her and picked up the mobile unit. "Get a move on! Station security is on the way."

Lien cast a harsh glare at the rogue academic's back as she was forced to fall into the line the guys with the guns were forming. The two healthy ones in front, then the professor, Lien, the wounded dude at the rear. The young woman wasn't the violent sort but for Cordalis she'd make an exception. Given the opportunity anyway.

Several times the man in her back pushed her as the group scurried through the station hallways. Everywhere people quickly moved out of the way, looking for cover when they saw the posse approach. Lien breath became somewhat louder the longer they kept jogging. Weeks of being mostly trapped in a small room certainly hadn't done her fitness any good and she was relieved when one of the guys up front put up his hand to stop.

"Security." He said under his breath after peeking around a corner. "Waiting for us by the looks of it."

"Problem?" The scientist wanted to know. He was puffing just as hard as Lien was.

"I would have preferred not to mingle with those guys." The leading PMC shrugged. "But no, not really." He checked his weapons and, with just a look, told his colleagues to get ready. Hiding the guns under his mantle he then pulled out the credit chit that'd meant to be the Krogan's payment. "Let's see if they're the conscientious kind."

"Freeze!" Somebody shouted as the sellsword went around the corner, mindful to not step too far away from cover. Anticipating another fire fight, Lien covered her ears once more and could only understand bit and pieces of the following exchange. Judging by what little she could hear, negotiations didn't go well however. The PMC next to the corner clicked off the safety of his submachine guns and moments later, with a sort of grim inevitability, the sounds of gunfire came up the hall. Lien pressed her hands to her ears more tightly as the man in front of her leaned out of cover and fired both his guns in a long burst. Again, to her own amazement, the young woman wasn't all that frightened. She was actually much more annoyed than scared. In a 'just get it over with' kind of way.

At least the gun battle didn't go on for long. Neither in training nor in the quality of their equipment a match for the PMCs, the members of the station security team, although superior in number, got either cut down or retreated into a narrow maintenance corridor. As Lien got pushed around the corner she saw a few bodies lying about motionlessly.

"Come on move it you two!" The leading PMC snapped at them, pointing his weapons down said hallway. "There's got to be more of them on the way."

Lien and Cordalis were shooed into an airlock, the professor seemingly a lot more shaken than the young woman.

"What is it with people on this station?" The last of the sellswords entering the airlock wondered aloud as the doors closed. "They got something against money or what's the deal?"

"No idea." The leader shrugged. "But at least some of the IT guys were more reasonable. Shouldn't show our faces around here for a while though. A shame. I like that bar."

"Yeah too bad." Lien faintly shook her head, listening to the men talking. They'd just killed members of an official security force and here they were, schmoozing away as if the subject was the weather or the girl next door. She'd never understand those types. Paying more attention to the surroundings the young woman found herself in a metal tube, three to four meters in diameter. One end of the pipe, behind an open door the back turned towards the group, a woman sat on a chair surrounded by holographic screens.

"They're refusing to release the docking clamps." The female Human said. Lien couldn't see any humour in the others woman's smile as the chair spun around. "It's kinda cute, really."

"Isn't it?" The lead PMC produced some kind of remote control out of his coat. "Anyway let's get on with it." He said as he pushed a button on the device.

* * *

In one of the citadel's major hospitals, Angela took a sip from a plastic cup resting her weary eyes for a bit. The stuff from the vending machine in the staff restroom was leagues away from the quality coffee she drank at home but the med student was beyond caring. Ah well. She was nearing the end of her shift and the young woman was looking forward to hop into her bed and just sleep for half a day or so.

"Vaswani?"

"Hm?" When she looked up Angela saw one of the clinics senior first responders waving her over. "Yes doctor Ziegler?"

"I'm heading out to the space docks to pick up an emergency case." The older woman said. "Want to come along?"

Angela contemplated for a moment. On one hand she felt she'd seen enough broken, mauled body parts for the day. On the other she was here to learn, to get as much practical experience as she could before going back to the university. She emptied her disposable cup in one go, making a face as the lukewarm brew ran down her gullet. Yeah the coffee here really wasn't to write home about.

"Sure." She stood up and threw the cup into the recycler. "What kind of emergency are we going to?" Angela asked as she followed the senior physician to the garage.

"Unknown." Doctor Ziegler replied. "The call came from a space traffic controller and they're usually not too big on the details. All I know is that a ship with an critically injured is about to land and we're supposed to pick him up."

"I see."

The two females hastened through the hospital halls and hopped into the back of an ambulance van. The doctor gave the Turian driver the destination as Angela sat down between all the medical gadgets and gizmos the back of the skytruck was filled with.

"Alliance military docks?" She inquired as the ambulance pulled out of the garage, raising above the sea of lights of the wards.

"Yep." Ziegler replied absently looking out the rear window.

* * *

_'Alliance three – one – five – charlie - romeo. You're cleared to land bay seven – two – niner.'_

"Thank you." Murphy mumbled before he pushed the talk button on his controls and acknowledged the transmission. They had only been waiting for clearance for one or two minutes but with a critical casualty in the back, even this short time had seemed like an eternity to the pilot. "All right people." He shouted towards the back as he pointed the nose of the spacecraft at the alliance naval base. "We're about to land so strap yourselves in, we're almost there."

In the back of the dropship Guzzman bent over Mike, giving him one last check. "How's he doing?" Alex wanted to know as he fastened his seatbelt.

"No change." The medic said tiredly as she sat down. "Which is good. If there are no unforeseen complications I think he'll actually make it."

"You doubted that?"

Guzzman gave the archaeologist a humourless smile. "He took a point blank blast from a heavy shotgun, doc. His whole abdomen was a bloody mess when I got to him." The medic took her armoured gauntlets off ran a hand through her blonde hair. "It's a small miracle he survived that, really." The spacecraft swivelled slightly and the rear ramp opened before the wheels touched the ground. "Ah the cavalry is already here." Guzzman observed when she noticed the ambulance. "Good." The medic opened her seatbelt and was out the back as soon as Murphy had set the ship down at the landing pad.

As Alex and Goldstein slowly rose, looking at one another a little helplessly, Guzzman already came jogging back, two women in medical scrubs in tow. The archaeologist made sure he stayed out of the way of the medical personnel as they entered the dropship, the combat medic rattling down a long list of injuries. The senior doctor took a quick look at Mike then turned to Guzzman.

"Okay, let's move him out." She said curtly. The commanding tone of her voice would have made many an Admiral burst with envy. "You!" She pointed at Goldstein. "Give us a hand here, would you?"

"I'll get it." Alex said and stepped forward. The marine was still suffering from minor after effects from his concussion and the scientist figured it he might as well be the one to carry the stretcher to the ambulance. The physician merely raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"May I ask why you didn't take off his helmet?" The doctor wanted to know on the way to the white van.

"There was no reason to." Guzzman replied with a frown. The medic thought she'd detected the hint of a rebuke in the question and got defensive. "The life-support system of our suits can act as a low level respirator and I didn't have anything better at hand so I left it on."

"I see." The civilian doctor's slight sneer spoke volumes as to what she thought of the lack of an important piece of equipment in the medic's gear. "Well fortunately we do."

Although the medic's temper began to boil, Guzzman said nothing. Once Mike was in the hospital, receiving treatment she could argue with the doctor but certainly not now. At least the physician didn't object when the blonde marine climbed into the back of the ambulance after they'd loaded the stretcher. The rear doors slammed shut and off the van went, leaving Alex and Goldstein standing on the docks, felling a little stupid. No knowing what to do the two of them sauntered over to the edge of the platform and stared out onto the wards, reaching out into the distance. Murphy joined them shortly afterwards.

"Well." Goldstein said after a while, rubbing his aching neck. "Aren't we a bunch of sorry sons of bitches." Then he suddenly remembered that there was an officer in the small group. "Err...I mean...You know what I mean, right Lieutenant?"

"Hey don't mind me." The pilot chuckled. "Anyway, wait here I'll try to arrange a transport to the barracks for you guys."

"The barracks?" Alex echoed. "But I'm not..."

"You got somewhere else to be, doctor?" Murphy raised a brow.

"Well no, but I'm not a marine. Aren't marine barracks off limits for civilians or something?"

"Goldstein here can explain things for ya, right Private?"

"You betcha."

"Don't think anyone will object." Murphy gave the archaeologist a friendly pat on the back and walked away, mumbling something that sounded like 'lucky bugger'. When Alex quizzically looked at the Private, Goldstein just grinned and shrugged.

* * *

"Vaswani." Doctor Ziegler said, nodding at the patient as she activated her omni-tool and called the clinic's critical care unit. "Prepare the respirator and then take his helmet off, please."

"Yes, doctor." Angela said quickly. So far she had only been able to observe and the young woman was grateful to have something to do. As ordered she took the breathing apparatus from one of the ambulance's shelves and checked it, listening to the senior first responder telling the hospital staff what was headed their way. The list of things Ziegler said to prepare was disturbingly long in Angela's ears. Having no idea how to open the helmet she had to enlist the medic's help in order to get it off.

The med student shrank back in horror, noisily sucking in the air when she saw the marine's blood encrusted face. For an endless moment she just gaped at the sight, her mind refusing to properly process the information coming from her eyes. This couldn't be! This had to be a nightmare or something and she'd find herself sitting upright in her bed dripping with cold sweat in a second. Somebody tried to talk to her but the voice seemed to come from so far away that Angela didn't listen to what was said.

"Hey." Only when a hand grabbed her shoulder and shook it did the student snap out of her weird stated of mind. "Are you all right?"

"Not really." Angela drawled as she stared at the armoured hand. She blinked a few times then finally shook of the paralysis and began to act, punching the proper commands into the respirator before she put it on Mike's face.

Guzzman's eyes narrowed as she let her gaze wander from the intern to her fellow marine and back again. "Oh." She murmured when her brain made the connection. "Oh brother."

Having finished her report to the hospital, Doctor Ziegler noticed there was something odd going on in the back of the ambulance at last. "You know him?" She wanted to know after she'd watched Angela repeat a scan over and over just to keep her mind occupied.

"He's my boyfriend." Angela said mechanically and started another scan for a lack of anything better to do.

"I see." The doctor's eyes darted over to the critically wounded soldier. One could see in her face that this was a situation she was neither experienced nor comfortable with. "Okay...Uh...why don't you check our supply of..."

"Don't you fucking patronize me!" As if someone had thrown a switch the life suddenly came back to Angela's eyes as she shouted at the doctor. In some far away recess of her mind the young woman even found it humorous that her mother would have chastised her for her lack of self control. "I'm don't have my degree yet, I know. But don't treat me like an imbecile! It is obvious enough that there's nothing we can do about anything until we get to the hospital and checking the supplies in here certainly won't help!"

During the following uncomfortable silence Guzzman briefly turned her head away. She didn't want the others to see the smirk creeping on her face. The medic knew she was being petty, enjoying the doctor get the door slammed on her, but she didn't really care right now.

Opposite of her Angela stared out the back of the ambulance for a moment. The view of the wards underneath them was quite spectacular but all that was of interest to the med student was that they were still a good distance away from the clinic. "Come on, step on it, damn it!" She shouted at the driver. "We don't have all day!"

"Relax missy. We'll be there in a minute." The Turian was too old and seasoned to be ruffled by an understandably twitchy intern. "And it wouldn't do your boy back there any good if we crashed, would it?"

Angela glared at the small part of the driver's head she could see, half thinking to throw something heavy his way. But since this would do little to shorten the trip she settled for a couple of angry remarks instead.

The Turian refrained from saying anything else. The female Human didn't strike him as the type to be allayed by empty phrases. Besides after decades of driving around with injured people of all kinds and species in the back, he'd grown mighty tired of hearing clauses like 'It'll be all right' himself. So he did the sensible thing: To focus on his job, getting the ambulance as quickly and safely to the clinic's garage as he could.

"Here we are." He reported a few minutes later. "Good luck."

The back door of the van flew open and Angela jumped out, immediately starting to bark orders at the waiting emergency team. Even on second glance one wouldn't have guessed that she was in fact merely an intern. Despite her desire to personally see to it that Mike received best treatment possible as quickly as possible, the med student was reasonable enough to yield the floor to doctor Ziegler when the details needed to be discussed with the surgeon on call.

The stretcher was lifted onto a floating sledge and off the group went, hastening through the clinic halls towards the closest suitable operating theatre. Felling a little out of place Guzzman lagged slightly behind the others. Her job was pretty much done for now but she still wanted to accompany her fellow marine as far a she could. A few people threw the armoured combat medic, stomping past them, funny looks but Guzzman didn't quite notice. She was distracted by a commotion ahead of her.

"What do you mean 'stay out here'?" Angela demanded, glaring at the nurse before her. "I won't..."

"There's nothing you can do to help in there. " The orderly remained level-headed and continued to block the student's way as her colleagues carefully guided the floating stretcher through the door. "We'll take good care of your friend and..." The nurse spoke a bit louder when Angela opened her mouth to protest. "...we can do that better without you breathing down our necks. You can watch through the window, period!"

"Now listen...!" The door slammed shut before the med student could say anything more. Muttering a bunch of invectives one might not have expected to come out of an upscale woman's mouth, she moved over to the large window and stared through it. She knew that he nurse was right of course. The hospital staff members were very good she knew that but it didn't diminish her desire to be as close to her boyfriend as possible.

Beside her, Guzzman watched the surgical team go to work for a few moments before she sauntered over to a chair and sat down. Checking the time she realized that she'd been up and about for close to twenty-four hours. No wonder she was knackered. She closed her eyes to rest them for a bit, absently listening to the other woman restlessly walking back and forth. The medic was close to falling asleep when the steps came in her direction then stopped.

Reluctantly Guzzman opened one eye and found Angela staring at her. "What the hell happened?"

"And hello to you too." The irony in the medic's dry voice wasn't exactly subtle when she sat up. "I'm Cynthia by the way."

For a split second the med student looked as if she was about to explode but then she fell into the chair beside the marine and shook the extended hand. "Angela."

"Pleasure." Guzzman said tiredly and proceeded to give the other woman a very simplified overview of what had gone down, leaving out classified or overly gory details. "How's it going in there anyway?" She asked after she'd finished.

"Can't tell from a distance." Angela buried her face in her hands for a second before she walked back to the window and resumed staring at the procedure in process, trying to figure out what was happening in there. Behind her the medic yawned widely, casually closing her eyes again and before she knew it she was fast asleep.

Cynthia had no idea how long she'd slept when she awoke but it was just in time to see, the floating stretcher being gently pushed down the hallway. Right next to the door to the operating room, the surgeon seemed to give Angela an update, giving her an encouraging pat on the shoulder before walking off.

"Well?" Guzzman asked as the med student staggered over.

"They expect Mike to make a full recovery." Angela's features relaxed as she sat down next to the medic. A big weight lifted off her chest she let go and began to cry at last.

* * *

That's it for the moment. Thanks for reading :)

Until the next chapter.

Take care :)


	17. Chapter 17

Hi folks.

So this chapter took a little longer again. As Christmas looms my free time usually tends to shrink somewhat. And there's of course also a couple of games, I'm looking forward to, coming out fairly soon. Long story short: New chapters will probably come out less frequently until the end of the year.

Anyway without further ado, here goes this one.

* * *

"And that was pretty much that." The mood in Joker's office was subdued as Cyra finished her report. "We've found no indication as to where they've taken the AI and A...doctor Gordon's assistant or who's behind it all. The prisoners have yet to be properly interrogated but I doubt they'll be able to tell us much. Don't think the people paying the bills would have an interest to bring their hired guns into the loop."

"Probably not." The Admiral agreed. "And yet who knows? Maybe intelligence does get something useful out of these guys." He stared out the window for a second. "Anyway how are your people doing? You've stopped at the hospital I hear?"

Cyra smiled thinly. "Yes I know I was supposed to report here right away but it figured..."

"Oh don't worry about _that_." The old Human laughed loudly. "I ain't gona jump in your shit just 'cause you took a few minutes to check on your marines." The grin disappeared. "So what's the verdict?"

"Corporal Leh is expected to make a full recovery but it's going to be a long haul." The maiden briefly stared at the ceiling as she went through the information in her head. "Goldstein got light duty, three days worth I believe, because of his concussion. Other than that only a few scrapes and bruises were reported..." Cyra's chest heaved as she sighed heavily. "...except..."

"Yeah." Joker said. "I heard about Nguyen."

The young Asari stared at her hands for a while. "I should have never split the group." The maiden whispered angrily, mad at herself. "I should never have gone off on my own. We were fucking lucky that Johanson reached us when she did. If she hadn't been there to sweep that hallway with her machine gun the list of casualties would have been very much longer."

Joker didn't reply right away. He would have to study the data the marines brought back from the engagement, recorded by their suits. But from the preliminary, verbal report he'd pretty much reached the same conclusion. The way it sounded his 'niece' had lost her judgement or at least had had it severely impaired when she'd seen her lover shoved through the base on Pragia. The old Human had feared something like this would happen and he could have kicked himself that he'd let her go. However there was no sense in dwelling in it and he certainly didn't intend to twist the knife in the wound right now. There would be time for critique later.

"How's your boy doing, anyway?" He asked. "I hear he got hit too?"

"Yeah he took a grenade fragment." Cyra said. "He's fine. The wound is probably fully healed by now. And don't refer to him as boy if you please."

"My apologies." Joker grinned. His waggish sense of humour was feared amongst Alliance staff officers. "It's good to hear regardless."

"Scared the shit out of me." The maiden groaned and stared into the palms of her hands, remembering the shock when she'd seen the bloody hand he'd pressed to his side.

A female Human, presumably Joker's adjutant, stuck her head through the door. "Admiral?"

"Yes Harleen, what is it?"

"The Saturn incident investigative committee is supposed to be in session now, sir." The woman said. "They're asking where you are."

Joker checked the time. "Ah yes." He sighed, making a face. "Tell them I'll be there in a few minutes please."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you." The old Human quickly checked something on his omni-tool, shaking his head and smirking faintly. "Some rookie pilot screwed up a docking manoeuvre." He explained. "Almost blew his ship and a refuelling station to smithereens. The instructor was apparently drunk and either didn't notice the impending disaster, didn't care or was too slow to step in. Oh yeah, this is going to be fun." The holographic user interface faded. "Anyway, I'm afraid I have to go, kid. So if there's nothing else you need to get off your chest right now..."

Cyra made no move to stand up just yet. "I'll need two replacements." She simply stated.

The Admiral leaned back in his chair, eyeing his old Commander's daughter for a moment. "You want to go in again?"

"One of my men is dead." The maiden growled. "Another almost died. I'm not planning to give this a rest." Cyra could see the objection coming and quickly continued. "This isn't about revenge, uncle. I got myself in trouble because of that once before and I won't make the same mistake again. But Alex' assistant is still out there. As is an AI that nobody knows what it's really capable of. If that thing gets loose..."

She wanted to continue but Joker stopped her flow of speech, raising a hand. "Oh I don't intend to let this go either, believe me. You, of course, could simply lean back an let one of our other teams do the heavy lifting for once but I suppose that's not something the Shepard genes allow you to do, is it?"

"I don't like the idea that someone else has to go in to fix my screw-ups."

Joker slowly shook his head. "It's not on you that the poor girl and our high tech MacGuffin got taken away a couple of hours before you got there."

"It would still feel like someone had to do my job for me." Cyra snapped. "Blame my genes if you must but I don't think you'd feel very good about this either, would you uncle?"

"I suppose not." Joker admitted. He leaned forward, pressing the fingertips of both hands together. "Let's say I do let you go again. What kind of replacements do you have in mind? Anything special?" The maiden opened her mouth but the small comm unit in the Admiral's chair buzzed. "Yes, Lieutenant Quinzel!" Joker barked into the microphone. "I'll be right there for crying out loud!" He looked at Cyra again. "Well?"

"I need an experienced second in command." The maiden replied at once. She'd thought about this the whole trip back. What had gone wrong. What she could have done better. What resources would have made the job easier. "I could really use an NCO."

"What about that Chief from your platoon?"

"Adiga is a good company clerk, a good organizer but she hasn't seen a lot of action. Besides she didn't strike me as someone who's feeling at home in the field." Cyra shook her head. "I need a combat veteran. Preferably with special forces background."

Joker raised an eyebrow. "Those don't just grow on trees, kid." He pointed out dryly.

"I know but...well, you asked me what I had in mind."

"Fine. I'll see what I can do. What about the second replacement? Any special wishes there?" The old human smiled to himself. "A Jedi perhaps?"

"Wouldn't say no." Cyra snickered softly and thought for a moment. "The more seasoned the better I'd say but I suppose really any decent marine will do. If you can't find anyone suitable I guess I could pick one from the platoon but I'd rather not do that." She absently rubbed the bridge of her nose with thumb and index finger of her right hand. "Anyway the sooner they're here and can start training with the team the better."

The comm unit buzzed again. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Joker shouted. He activated the desk's built in computer and typed in a few commands. "I'll see what I can do, kid. In the meantime I just got you and your squad seven days worth of leave. You look like you can use it."

"Seven days? I can't just sit on my ass..." The maiden started to protest."

"Rubbish!" The Admiral cut in, rolling the R to enhance the effect. "Of course you can. That rogue professor, the doctor's assistant and the AI are in the wind. They're gone! In all likelihood it'll take weeks if not months to find them again. So take a few days off, get a rest and have fun with your boytoy. Just make sure you and your people don't go too far away. In the unlikely event we _do_ get a fix on the target's location within that week I'll call you at once.

"Oh for f..." Cyra muttered unhappily. She knew that her uncle was right but she still didn't like it one bit. "Fine." She sighed. "But I told you not to call Alex a boy."

"Just get out of my office, will ya _Leftenant?_" Joker chuckled and shooed his niece away. "I gotta go before poor Harleen suffers a heart attack because she's getting hassled about that bloody meeting."

"Sir, aye aye, sir."

* * *

Cyra didn't bother to call a transport as she exited the local HQ. The barracks were about a ten minute walk and an elevator ride away. Casually sauntering through the presidium the maiden could relax at least somewhat as she got used to the idea of a short vacation. Contemplating a little more it didn't sound so bad after all and by the time she reached the lift she was thinking about what to undertake. She could take Alex out to fancy restaurants, go see a show or two. There were a _lot_ of possibilities to pass the time here on the citadel.

She arrived at the barracks before she got carried away too much. The empty looks on her people's faces certainly got her head back out of the clouds quickly. There were some smiles on the men and women's faces as the Asari Lieutenant told them about the leave but no one got particularly excited. No wonder, considering that one of their own had come back from the mission in a body bag. The maiden gave her marines instructions as to where and when they were supposed to report back for duty then dismissed them, telling the men and women under her command to try and have some fun.

"Goldstein." She took the marine by the arm when he walked past her, going for the locker room. "Where's doctor Gordon?"

"Umm...I'm not sure." The Private replied slowly. "The doc told him to get some rest I think but that was hours ago. Haven't seen him since."

"Okay." Cyra tapped him on the shoulder. "Off you go. See you in a week."

"You got it LT."

As Goldstein walked away to change into some more comfortable clothing, his Lieutenant wondered where Alex could be hiding. She'd talked to the physician on duty just before she'd reported to her uncle and knew about the rest recommendation but being in a hurry she hadn't thought of asking where the scientist had gone to. The maiden grimaced as she looked at her armoured hands. She needed to get out of this suit and get a quick shower. After all she didn't want to go looking for her boyfriend while she stank like a pig.

A short but nonetheless very refreshing shower later Cyra carefully checked her armour for damage before she put the individual pieces into the locker assigned to her. There wasn't a whole lot going on at the moment she couldn't help but notice as she began to put her uniform on. She briefly looked around the room. Actually there wasn't _anybody _else in here. Everything was nice and quiet. The maiden found that to be very pleasant. A nice change of pace from what'd been going on those past few weeks. If only none of her people had had to die.

Cyra pressed her forehead against the cool metal of the locker door. She hadn't checked whether the Private had a family yet and she dreaded to. She'd have to write one of _those_ letters. The maiden had had to do that before and it was just about the most unpleasant task she could possibly imagine. Well, no that wasn't strictly true. Having to break the news to the relatives in person was most likely even worse. She shook her head and continued getting dressed. She'd get to that tomorrow. For today she had enough of thinking or talking about death and destruction.

"Hey." Cyra froze as she heard Alex' voice. For a moment she just stared at the locker door.

"Hey." She slowly turned to the scientist, cocking her head to the side when she noticed that he wore the standard alliance military fatigues. She started to speak twice before her mind could settle on a question. "Alex do you often barge into a ladies' dressing room?"

The Archaeologist blinked for a second. The question, directed at him with an impish smile had caught him flat footed. "Err...no." His ears reddened a little. "But umm...well I was told you were the only one in here at the moment."

"I see." Cyra slowly walked towards her boyfriend. She was so glad to see him up and about that she forgot about the everything else momentarily. "You got a lousy timing, you know that? Just a minute or two ago you would have caught me in my undies."

"Yeah well." The archaeologist was quickly regaining his mental equilibrium, although his heart was beating a bit faster with every step the Asari took towards him. "The doctor said to take it easy."

"Is that so?" Cyra put her arms around Alex' midriff and wanted to pull him in for a kiss.

"Ow!" Startled by her boyfriend's groan, the maiden let go as if she'd received an electric shock.

"Shit the wound, I'm sorry." Cyra stammered. "I thought it had to be healed by now, I didn't...I'm so so..."

The scientist had to hold up a restraining hand to quell the stream of apologies coming his way. "It is. Well more or less anyway." He explained. "The wound is closed all right but the doctor said it was probably going to be a bit sore for a day or two. Hence the 'take it easy' part."

"Okaaay." Cyra drawled. The scientist thought he could hear disappointment in her voice. She took a step back and gave her boyfriend a curious look. "And what about the uniform?"

"Goldstein organized it for me." Alex said with an apologetic smile. "I'd been wearing the same clothes for weeks and...well, I didn't want to to come near you, or anyone else for that matter, wearing rags that smelled to high heaven."

"That's very nice of you." The young Asari commented with a playful smirk. "It becomes you I must say. I've got connections. Who knows maybe the alliance could use a good archaeologist."

The scientist laughed. "I don't think so. I'm really not a military person."

"Aww, that's a bummer." Cyra grinned, finished buttoning her blouse and closed the locker door. "Anyway let's get out of here, shall we?"

"You can just leave?" Alex raised a brow.

"Yep." The archaeologist's face fell a little when he was told about the seven day pass.

"But what about Lien?" He wanted to know. "She's still out there, I mean...You're not giving up on her do you?"

"I'm not planning on." Cyra's face darkened considerably. "And neither is my uncle. As soon as we have a fix on her location I'll be out the door so don't worry."

"Right." Alex didn't seem to be entirely happy with that statement but he smiled faintly anyway.

"Come on, let's go." The maiden said after a short silence. "Let's go and have some fun."

"Hey, 'take it easy', remember?"

"I'm sure we'll find a way to pass the time regardless." Cyra grinned, undaunted by the scientist's objection. "There's a lot to see and do here on the citadel."

"Oh, I thought by fun you meant..."

The soft glance the young Asari threw him seemed to raise the temperature in the room by at least ten degrees. "There's no hurry there." She whispered in his ear. "But we'll get to that. Oh we'll get to that."

"Looking forward to it." Alex managed to mumble as she stepped away and began pulling him along again. To the doctor's amazement they didn't have any trouble getting out of the base. All it took was a quick explanation from the maiden and out the gate they went. "Where are we going?" He wanted to know, frowning a little as the maiden purposefully steered towards the nearest elevator to the presidium. "Just so you know, an archaeologist's pay isn't _that_ great."

"So?"

"So the rate of the presidium hotels is umm... let's say rather on the expensive side for little me."

Cyra looked at her boyfriend inquisitively. "Sounds like you know what you're talking about." She said, playfully slapping Alex on the shoulder.

"Well yeah, sort of." The scientist made a face. "When I first came to citadel space a friend and I had a juvenile fit and..." He interrupted himself, blushing a bit. "Look it's kinda embarrassing. I'd rather not talk about it out here on the street."

"Okay fine but now you've made me curious." The maiden giggled. "So just so you know: I won't let you off the hook on this one."

"Great." Alex muttered. "Well anyway, yeah I do have a pretty good idea what a they charge you for a night in one of these high class hotels."

"Don't worry, you won't have to spend a penny." Cyra explained. "My family owns an apartment in the presidium which I can use anytime."

"Well that's a relief." The archaeologist said dryly as his girlfriend brushed his cheek with her lips before she continued leading the way to the elevator. "Can I ask you something?" He said as they entered the lift.

"Of course."

"Do you really think that this uniform looks good on me?"

* * *

"Call for you, dad." Three sets of eyes locked onto the youngest Shepard as she strolled back towards the table.

"Who is it?" The former spectre wanted to know, the smile vanishing from his features. "I swear, if it's another telemarketer..."

"Nah it's uncle Joker." Hannah giggled cheerfully, noticing the gruff look on her father's face. "He claimed it was important."

"All right I'm coming." The old Human sighed. His face only marginally brightened up as he put his fork down and rose from the table. He hated being disturbed while eating dinner, especially when his girls were with him.

Rose on the other hand had to admit she was glad that the famous war hero was leaving the room for at least a moment. It would give her the chance to relax. It wasn't that he'd been haughty or overbearing or anything along those lines. On the contrary. The old man had been nothing but kind to her the whole time. A very pleasant host and as it turned out he was also a pretty good cook. If she hadn't know better she would have thought Ashley's father was just another, ordinary guy.

The trouble was, she _did _know better. Ever since she'd been a little girl she'd heard all those stories about the great war and the Normandy crew's exploits. Most of which the old man had claimed to be grossly exaggerated. Yet Rose couldn't ban those tales from her mind. She just couldn't feel fully at ease in the presence of _the_ Shepard. Not yet anyway.

The young woman only realized she'd been brooding when she felt Ashley's hand caressing her thigh. Looking up from her plate the ginger found Hannah watching the two of them with an unreadable expression.

"So." After a moment the youngest Shepard's lips split into a grin as she threw a quick glance at the door her father had vanished behind. "Since us girls are amongst ourselves for the moment...Where exactly _did_ you hide that OSD Ash?"

Ashley had told the others a bit about her time in captivity and because she didn't want to upset anyone, the maiden had tried to make it sound like an adventure and not the awful mix of boredom and fear it really had been. Her dad hadn't been fooled for a second of course. The former spectre's scowl had made that apparent enough. The mood around the dinner table had suffered accordingly and Hannah, being her cheerful, wonderful self, was now trying to lighten it a bit.

"I'm not sure I can tell you that." Ashley smiled weakly. "I'd have to ask dad first if you know what I mean."

"Oh bugger off, Ash." The younger maiden laughed, throwing Rose a wink. "Would you listen to that? Barely ten years older than me and thinks that makes her the big girl on campus or something."

"Seriously, you don't want to know." Ashley mumbled. She had absolutely not desire to talk about those awful weeks any longer. "Where's mum anyway?"

"Hey come on, don't try and change the subject when it's getting interesting..."

"Hannah, for fuck's sake!" The maiden's eyes widened in surprise when her older sister fiercely snapped at her. In general Ashley wasn't the hotheaded sort and Hannah couldn't actually remember the last time she'd shouted at her. Hannah was smart enough to know that her sibling hadn't told the whole story and judging by her reaction wasn't going to tonight either. At any rate she decided to give it a rest for now and just answer the question.

"On the other side of the planet somewhere." Hannah shrugged. "Checking out some kind of problem at a field lab or something. She should be back in a couple of hours."

The room fell silent. Hannah and rose were afraid they could say anything that would cause further upset and Ashley was embarrassed by her emotional outburst. For a few minutes the three young females just sat there poking at their food.

"Ash? Would you come over here for a sec, please?" Her father said, standing in the nearest door.

The spoken to maiden exchanged a glance with the others at the table and rose. She was at the same time glad for the interruption and apprehensive because the old Human looked pretty serious.

"What is it, dad?" Ashley asked after he'd closed the door behind her.

He scrutinized his daughter for a moment before he replied. "I thought you'd want to know: A team went in and captured the base you'd been held captive at." He said, intentionally leaving out the fact that Cyra had been there. There was no reason for her to know that.

Ashley blinked rapidly, covering her mouth with one of her hands. She trembled slightly. "And?" She asked hoarsely.

"The archaeologist...doctor Gordon I believe?" The former spectre frowned slightly. "He's been freed. But his assistant and the AI were taken off world just hours before the marines got there."

"What?" The maiden drawled, hoping against hope that she'd somehow misinterpreted that last sentence. Her eyes watered when her father relayed the information he'd gotten from his old friend a few minutes ago in somewhat greater detail.

"Where did these shitheads take her!?" Ashley demanded, getting angry after the shock had passed. She'd shared a room with Lien for the entire time in captivity. They'd soothed each other when there was no comfort to be had elsewhere. To at least have someone around to talk to had made the situation a little more bearable. She didn't want to imagine how the Human girl was feeling right now, having to cope with everything all by herself.

"Unknown." Ashley's father replied. "I'm told the intelligence services of pretty much every species in citadel space are now chasing down leads but it might take months before..."

"What!?" The young Asari shrieked. "What the fuck!? Months!? These fucking agencies cost billions. Alliance intelligence! The spectres and whatever the else there is! Billions! And now they can't even find one girl without taking too much time!? Those fucking useless, overpaid James Bond wannabes!"

Ashley continued to rage pretty much against everything and anything. All the repressed emotions, all the memories she'd tried to lock away in some far away corner of her mind were now surfacing at the same time. Not until she felt her father's hand at her shoulder, shaking her slightly, did she stop. "Hey, take it easy." There wasn't the slightest sign of a reproach in the old Human's soft voice.

The wild, almost crazy look in the maiden's eyes disappeared ever so slowly. She turned her head away and wiped something off her face. "They can't just abandon her, dad." She whispered. "They can't..."

"Don't worry, Ashley." Shepard gently clasped his daughter in his arms, stroking her back. "The poor girl won't be left in the lurch. I'll see to that, I promise."

The young Asari enjoyed her father's embrace for a moment longer before she gently but firmly disentangled herself from the old man's arms. Breathing deeply she regained her composure. "Thanks dad." She even managed to smile, knowing that her old man wasn't the sort to make empty promises. "But what about Charlie?"

The former spectre blinked in confusion. "Who?"

* * *

Although there was of course no outward sign, the AI was getting more and more frustrated as his mobile unit was being carried through clean and pristine looking corridors. He hadn't been able to transfer the programs, enabling him to exercise even some control over his and Lien's situation, over to this facility's computer. He hadn't detected any wireless network at this place. Either there was none or it had been completely disabled. The professor and whoever was paying the bills was getting more careful it seemed.

He wasn't concerned for his own sake. He could wait for the rogue scientist or any of his associates to make a mistake. Decades, even centuries if he had to. Lien on the other hand could not and that was the of course the real problem. The young Human was among the very, very few beings Charlie had ever known he considered a friend and he wanted her out of harms way. Unfortunately he had absolutely no way to do that, especially not without his software running in the structure's computer. No matter how much he disliked it, all he could do at the moment was to wait and see.

* * *

"Welcome to New Folsom, professor." Looking around curiously, Lien almost walked into the rogue academic as he stopped abruptly. The young woman didn't pay much attention to the scientist greeting Cordalis and instead continued to soak up as much information about her new 'home' as she possibly could. Security measures at this facility didn't seem to be taken all that seriously at this facility. She hadn't been blindfolded, the woman talking to the professor openly mentioned their location and the guards around didn't look too threatening either. Maybe Cordalis had simply forgotten to mention that she wasn't here on her own volition? There were one or two additional explanations of course, but the student preferred not to think about those.

Whatever the reason, Lien snapped at the chance to take a good look at her surroundings. Ever since she'd been separated from Ashley and doctor Gordon the young archaeology student had come to the conclusion that she couldn't sit around like the proverbial damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued. She had to do something. The girl had to admit she had no clue as to what exactly just yet but she figured the more she knew about her new prison the better. Yet again Lien wondered what had happened to Ashley and her boss. An attack on the merc base on Pragia had been mentioned. Did that mean that the Asari had made it back home? And what about the doctor? Was he okay? The uncertainty didn't exactly improve the young woman's state of mind.

Lien pushed those thoughts aside and eyed female scientist, giving her colleague a tour of the building. "The facility has been completed only yesterday." She said proudly as Lien began to pay more attention as to what was spoken about. "You will find that all our equipment is absolutely cutting-edge. Right down to the island net for our artificial friend to roam around in. Can't wait to get to work on a real AI." To Lien the researcher sounded as if she was talking about dissecting a lab animal.

"Oh that's just so nice of you, doctor Halsey." Charlie cut in sarcastically, leapfrogging the professor. "Really heart warming I must say."

Lien stifled a snicker with both her hands, thoroughly amused by the dumbfounded look on the other woman's face. "How does it know my...?" The scientist began to say but the AI interjected again.

"There's optical sensors in this unit _ma'am_." Judging by his tone of voice, Charlie hadn't taken a particular liking to the woman with the glasses. "And I can read, thank you very much."

Bamboozled by the AI's words the researcher absently fiddled around with the name tag attached to her lab coat for a moment before she pulled herself together and continued with the tour. Lien quietly tagged along, trying to be as unobtrusive as she possibly could. The professor seemed to be preoccupied with learning about his new place of work and the student didn't want him to suddenly remember that she was around.

To fill the time doctor Halsey was talking a bit more about the construction of the building as she was leading the small group through the well lit, sparkling clean corridors. Lien's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she listened. According to the scientist the facility had been built specifically to study the ancient AI and, if she didn't mess up the timeline in her head completely, construction had begun only days after Charlie had been discovered. Lien vividly remembered the fuss that had been made about keeping the whole thing a secret. The communications had been completely blocked for crying out loud. Whoever was paying the bills on this one: How the hell could he or she have known so soon?

The short stroll through the pristine hallways ended in front of an equally spotless laboratory. Lien had to admit she found it rather interesting what the female researcher had to say about the lab. Pretty much everyone back at the archaeological dig would have given his right arm to have access to equipment of this quality. The number of times doctor Gordon had complained about the lack of funding and sub par equipment...Lien's eyes watered when she thought of those innocent times but only for a moment. She shook her head, chastising herself for being sentimental. Once she was out of here she could wail and cry about whatever but certainly not now.

"...and the network is of course completely separate from the main grid." Doctor Halsey's voice brought Lien back to the immediate present. The scientist would have been a good teacher, the student noticed. A couple of the lecturers back at her university undoubtedly could have learned a thing or two about didactic from this woman, Lien mused.

She threw a glance at the mobile unit, Cordalis was carrying around like an ordinary suitcase. Charlie remained silent but Lien had this weird feeling that the AI found the doctor's explanations, as to how the various gadgets and gizmos were supposed to lift his secrets, absolutely hilarious.

"Want to take a closer look professor?" Halsey asked eventually, gesturing at the glass door.

"I'd love to." Cordalis sounded excited. Unfortunately he suddenly noticed that Lien was standing behind him He turned to one of the guards, loitering around nearby. "Would you take the young lady to her hmm...to her quarters please?"

"Certainly, Sir." Lien glared angrily at the professors back as the guards walked over. "This way please, ma'am."

The young woman raised one of her eyebrows as she turned to the sentry. Well, at least they seemed to be somewhat more polite than that mercenary riffraff. Not that it improved her situation much but it was at least something. She didn't move right away and instead listened to the scientists talking as they went through the glass door after a biometric scan.

"I'd say it would be best if we left the AI core in this unit for now." Halsey said in this moment. "That way we just pull the plug should there be any complications."

"Probably a good idea." Cordalis agreed as the door closed behind him.

"Ma'am, this way please." The guards said again and gently took her by the upper arm.

"Yes of course." Lien forced a smile on her face. The guard was about her age and maybe she could get something out of it if she fluttered her eyes at him. The young man returned her smile almost coyly. Definitely worth a try.

As she slowly followed the guard she threw a last look at the lab. The transparent walls weren't soundproof and she could still hear what was being said in there. Barely.

"What's this?" Cordalis asked, pointing at a network socket covered by a plastic cap.

"Connection to the base net." The female researcher replied. "In case we need it. We put the cover on it to prevent anybody from accidentally plugging in the AI."

"Ma'am, please." The guards grip tightened a bit when Lien stopped dead in her tracks. Now she knew how she just might get out of this. She didn't know just how to do it but now she had something to work towards and keep her mind occupied with.

* * *

His elbows resting on the desk before him, Joker let out a weary groan as he massaged his temples. The entire day had comprised of nothing but an endless succession of meetings, one boring presentation after the other. He'd almost dozed off on more than one occasion and only a combination of obstinacy and willpower had kept him awake.

As he blankly stared into the distance, recalling the day in his head, a steaming cup seemed to materialize on his desk. The old Admiral was flabbergasted when he found his aide standing right next to him. "How long have you been there?" He wanted to know.

"Long enough to know that you could use some of this, Sir." The female Lieutenant replied with a nod towards the mug.

Joker smiled gratefully as the picked up the cup, the smell of good quality coffee reaching his nostrils. He held the mug in both hands, enjoying the warmth coming through the ceramic for a moment before he took a sip. "Thank you Harleen." The Admiral said. "You're a gem."

"Thank you, Admiral."

Taking a few more sips of the hot brew, the old man looked at the grandfather clock, ticking away quietly and contentedly in the corner of his office. "Anyway it's getting late. You should get out of here and get some rest, Lieutenant."

"Sir, as long as you're working, I'm working."

"Harleen. I don't want to make an order out of it." Joker said gently. "Go home, get some sleep or go out or do whatever you young people do for fun these days. You've done enough for the 'skinny old bastard' for today."

"Sir I would never..." The Lieutenant wanted to protest but her superior's impish grin stopped her.

"...Refer to me as such, hm?" He snickered. "You'd probably be the only one around here who wouldn't." The old man seemed to find a perverse delight in seeing his aide blush. "Oh just scram, will ye, Lieutenant? You'll get a promotion in due time don't you worry." Joker laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Aye Sir." The Admiral's eyes followed Lieutenant Quinzel as she headed for the door after saluting.

"Way too young for ya, old boy." Joker mumbled with a decent dash of self-irony. As he finished his coffee, his thoughts went back to the last meeting. That one in particular, a sitting with the alliance defence council, sat heavily on his stomach. The topic had of course been the theft of the ancient alien AI and he'd come out of the room with one hell of a headache. While this committee theoretically couldn't really give him any orders he'd been 'advised' to limit the people in the know as much as he possibly could. He'd probably would have to send in Cyra again after all and the 'advice' from the defence council gave him little leeway as regards to picking replacements for her squad.

He felt tempted to forget about it for now and catch some sleep but something kept him from packing it in and go home just yet. Something that'd been lingering in the back of his mind ever since...ever since...Joker muttered a curse. What the heck was it? He guided his floating chair over to the panoramic window, had it spin around wildly during his contemplations. It was something related to Ashley but what? But what? He absently stared through the glass, too preoccupied to enjoy the scenery.

The chief! That was it. The chief who'd first called him and reported that an Asari had been dropped off in front of his base who claimed to be Commander Shepard's daughter. He'd seen that guy before but where? Joker shook his head and had the chair float back to his desk, calling up this outpost's personnel files. The Admiral's eyes widened a bit when he found the appropriated file.

"Hello." He muttered and faint smile crept onto his features. One problem off his chest. Only a couple of dozen more to go.

* * *

That's it for now.

Hopefully I can get the next chapter out before...you know...Fallout 4 comes out ;P

Take care.


	18. Chapter 18

Howdy folks.

As you can see I managed to get another chapter online.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"So." Operations Chief Charlton stared at Admiral Moreau's holographic with the irrational hope that this was some kind of a bad dream. "I know you requested a quiet post to spend the rest of your time." The old man said. "But I'm afraid that's no longer possible."

The Chief said nothing. What the heck could he say? The Admiral hadn't made it sound as if he had a choice in the matter. His state of mind had to be clearly showing in his face for the high ranking officer smirked faintly.

"Not too happy about this are you Chief?" Joker said. "Can't blame you really. I expect you to do your job though."

"Sir, I'm a professional, Sir." Charlton managed to utter through clenched teeth. "I've always done my job. I ain't planning to change that now, Sir."

"Good to hear." The Admiral said. "I do have a little something to sweeten the deal. You're hereby promoted to the rank of Master Chief and, once the mission has been completed, I'll send you anywhere you want."

_'If I'm not dead that is.'_ The chief thought sullenly. Then he pulled himself together. He wasn't going to change anything, pouting like a spoiled brat. "Thank you, Sir."

"A ship is on the way to pick the both of you up. I suggest you collect up your stuff and get ready to go." The Admiral gave the newly promoted master chief a set of instructions as to where and when he was supposed to report for duty. Then he terminated the collection with a brief 'good luck', leaving Charlton standing in the darkened room with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. For a moment he considered throwing something heavy through the three dimensional Alliance logo before him but then he sat down on the nearest chair an got used to the idea that he'd probably have to fire a gun in anger once again.

"What the heck Chief?" Private McClain demanded as she stumbled into the comm room a minute later. He'd paged her about half way through the call, most likely bundling her out of bed, but somehow the female marine still looked absolutely smashing. "What can possibly be so important that it couldn't wait..." The gorgeous blonde let her voice trail off and looked at the veteran through half closed eyes. "Are you okay, Chief?" She asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

"If it only was that." The NCO groaned. Charlton pursed his lips to a tight line and stood up. "I got some good news and I got some bad news."

"Huh?" Jane was beginning to suspect she was being the victim of some elaborate hoax. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The good news." The Chief said, ignoring the question completely. "We're getting off this rock. You and I. The bad news we're probably gona get shot at in the not too distant future."

"What?!" The blonde's voice took on a bit of a shrill colour. "Could you fucking tell me what's going on for Christ's sake? Plainly?"

"Here's the orders." Charlton threw over a data pad which the Private caught with some difficulties. "It's all in there. There's a ship on the way to pick us up so you better start packing."

"This is gotta be a joke." Jane mumbled as her eyes flew over the lines of text. "Chief this is..."

"It's not a joke, McClain. Believe me I wished it was." The NCO brushed past her on his way to the door. "See you at the airlock."

The blonde marine stared at the door the Chief had vanished behind. Then at the data pad. Then again at the door. "What...just...happened?" She wondered aloud as she stood alone in the room, more flabbergasted than she'd been for a long, long time.

* * *

Rose blinked in confusion, staring into the darkness after being startled out of her sleep. For a second the redhead thought she was still back at the research camp but the heavy breathing beside her jump started her memory. "Ash?" She softly asked into the darkness. No answer. Groggily fumbling about in the darkness it took the Human girl a few moments to find the light switch.

"Ash?" Rose asked again when she found her girlfriend sitting in the bed right next to her, blankly staring at the opposite wall. Still no reaction. The maiden didn't even seem to notice that the room was suddenly lit. Rose reached out and touched the Asari's shoulder. "Hey is..." 'Everything all right?' She wanted to ask but interrupted herself. The way Ashley was staring at her – as if she saw her the first time – made the question sound incredibly silly, even in her own ears. "Ash what's wrong? You've had a nightmare or something?"

"Or something." The maiden murmured absently as she fell back onto the pillow, turning her head away.

"What happened after you were taken by those mercs?" Rose wanted to know. "What _really_ happened?"

"Not now, Rosie."

"But..."

"I said not now!" The maiden snapped heatedly. "Turn the bloody light off and get some sleep."

Rose restrained the urge to sigh. She could appreciate that, after having been rudely awaken in the middle of the night, now was maybe not the most appropriate time for a serious talk. But Ashley was hurting. She'd immediately noticed that when she'd seen her again but every time she'd tried to talk to her girlfriend about it, Ash would only wave it off and insist that she was fine. Rose listened to the other woman's breathing for a while, listening for sobs or anything else out of the ordinary. Eventually she gave up and relaxed as best as she could. Maybe, she thought right before she fell asleep, she should try to talk to Ash's dad. Maybe he knew a way to get his daughter to open up.

* * *

Outside the girls' bedroom, the former spectre stared at the door in mute rage. He'd still been awake when he'd heard Ashley scream and for a fraction of a second he'd even considered knocking on the door and ask if she was okay. What the heck had those assholes done to his girl? He was so wrapped in his thoughts that he didn't hear the front door opening.

"You're still up?" Almost reluctantly the old Human took his eyes off the wooden door and met his wife's fascinating emerald eyes, looking at him with a mix of amusement and concern. "How is our girl?" Shiala asked softly as her bond-mate turned away from the door and walked over.

"I'm not entirely sure." Shepard tried not to scowl too much as he planted a kiss on the Asari's cheek. He put his arm around Shiala's midriff and gently began to pull her away from their daughter's bedroom. In silence the couple went through the darkened house towards the living room. Only when the former spectre knelt down in front of the old fashioned fireplace in the and stirred up the remaining embers, getting a fire going again, did he continue to speak. "Apparently she's having nightmares." He said as a few small flames began to flicker.

He reached over to the crate next to him and carefully added a few logs to the small, blackened pile of ash and cinders. 'His' Asaris regularly made fun of him, wondering why he would go through the trouble of getting wood, chopping it up himself and going through the procedure of starting the fire when there were much easier alternatives. Like a holographic fireplace or even gas. He would always insist that those things wouldn't generate the same cosy atmosphere as a wood fire no matter how much they claimed otherwise. And besides the physical labour was keeping him at least somewhat in shape.

"So far she hasn't really talked about what exactly happened." He continued as he fell into one of the large and very comfortable chairs, arranged in a semi circle around the fireplace.

"She's said nothing at all?" The matron wanted to know.

"Oh, she told us a bit about what happened." The ageing Human sighed softly. "But she tried to make it sound as if it had been just some harmless, fun trip. Sort of a girl-scout adventure or something along those lines. But..."

"...But in general those don't tend to give one nightmares." Shiala finished her bond-mate's sentence for him. Human and Asari fell silent, staring into the flames and listening to the crackling of the fire. "Come on, let's go to bed." Shepard flinched faintly as his wife spoke up eventually. "We don't want you to fall asleep in one of these chairs again do we?" She added with an impish smirk.

"I guess not." The old war hero grumbled as he forced himself out of the comfy chair.

The matron took his hand and pulled her yawning bond-mate with her. "Let's move it, mister." She smiled. "You need proper rest. As you so often like to say: You're not twenty anymore."

"Oh sure, throw that back in my face why don't ya?" The Human sighed stagily. The smile on his face vanished when they walked past Ashley's room once more. Soft whimpering could be heard coming from the other side of the door.

"Come on, dear." Shiala whispered, although she wanted nothing more than to go in there and try to comfort her girl. "There's nothing we can do tonight."

"I know, I know." It had been a while since the matron had seen her bond-mate this angry. "That's the goddamn problem." He took a couple of deep breaths to cool off at least a little. A veritable thunderstorm still raging behind his eyes he brushed past his wife. "Someone is going to be sorry." He hissed. "Someone is going to be really fucking sorry."

* * *

"You're an N7?" The surprise in Private McClain's voice was crystal clear as she gaped at the veteran soldier, sitting in the shuttle's passenger compartment with her. Her mind was having serious troubles matching the Chief's usually somewhat flippant behaviour with what she thought she knew about that elite branch of the alliance military.

"Yes I'm an N7." Charlton aped the female marine, throwing her an annoyed glance before he resumed to stare out the window.

"What the hell were you doing out here on the ass end of nowhere then?" Jane asked, undaunted by the newly promoted Master Chief's apparent foul mood. "You pissed off one of the higher-ups? Bedded an Admiral's daughter or something?"

"Nothing of the sort." Charlton snorted. "I don't have any ambition in that respect."

Noticing the Chief's wolfish smirk it was now the lower ranked marine's turn to throw the other an annoyed look. "Wipe that silly grin off your face, will you Chief?" Jane growled. "I haven't done anything along those lines either."

"Really?" He lowered his head looking at the beautiful woman curiously. "I've heard otherwise."

"You've heard the bullshit rumours." Jane snapped. "Look, the guy came onto me. Not the other way around. And I thought he was cute so I flirted with him a bit. But that's exactly how far it went. It's not my fault this stupid chick is so maniacally jealous that she ought to be committed."

"Hey, you started with the salacious theories." The chief shrugged. "Can't blame me if I pick up on it."

McClane opened her mouth then closed it again. "Whatever." She grumbled. "Anyway, back to the subject: What are...what _were_ you doing in that god forsaken excuse for a base?"

Charlton's face darkened, his mood plunging down further. "I requested the transfer."

"Huh?" Jane could barely believe it. The months she'd spent, 'guarding' the research camp against a non-existent threat, were without the shadow of a doubt the most boring of her life so far. "You're shitting me, right?"

"Nope. I mean I didn't specifically request, you know, _this._" He gestured at the planetoid getting smaller and smaller in the window. "I wanted a quiet post is all."

"I see." Jane could feel the spacecraft jump to FTL as she eyed the older marine, her curiosity clearly not satisfied. "Why?"

The Chief stared at her with an empty look on his face. "You really think this is any of your business, McClane?"

"I'm just asking." The female marine shrugged and pulled over her duffel bag. She rummaged around in her luggage for a moment, looking for the data pad she'd prepared with some entertainment for the trip. She was surprised when the Chief suddenly stared talking again after a few minutes of silence.

"I was sick and tired of killing people." The veteran said tiredly. "Sick and tired of getting shot at. Sick and tired of being shooed around the galaxy to pull other people's chestnuts out of the fire."

"I see." Jane said slowly, putting her pad away. "I must admit I wouldn't have thought..."

"...That I was one of these much-admired bad asses, I know." A hint of dark humour – or maybe self-deprecation - crept onto Charlton's face. "I know I appear to be a little weird sometimes but if I didn't crack a silly joke or make some impudent remarks every now and again I would have lost my mind a long time ago." The Chief ran his hand through his dark hair. For some reason Jane only now noticed that his temples were already greying. "For ten bloody years I've been doing this. I came out here because I wanted to spend my last couple of months in the corps as far away from anything even remotely resembling action as possible."

Charlton's frankness caught the female marine off guard and for a moment she didn't quite know what to say. "I see. I have to admit I may have a somewhat inaccurate picture of special operations." She then said in an attempt to lighten the mood a little. "The vids certainly make you guys look like you're always on top of things. Like modern day Rambos."

The Chief let out a sharp, humourless laugh. "Yeah, the movie makers call it realism I believe. And when a hand grenade goes up it looks like a bloody nuclear explosion." He paused briefly. "So I basically asked not to get the kind of assignment we're now stuck with."

Jane put the pad back into her bag and eyed the NCO curiously. "Have you any idea what this 'special detail' is all about?"

"Nope. The Admiral hasn't told me anything beyond what's in the written orders." Charlton shifted in his chair to get himself in a more comfortable position. "But unless this is a massive coincidence I'd say it has something to do with that Asari chick, being dropped off at our doorstep."

"Her name is Ashley." The blonde pointed out firmly.

"Sorry." The Chief flashed a cocky grin. "I completely forgot that the two of you are on a first name basis. Anyway I don't know anything more than you do. I'm afraid I don't have some secret, all knowing source of information like they do in the movies sometimes."

"What makes you think we're going to get shot at then?"

"Long experience my good woman." Charlton said dryly. "When a couple of marines are shipped across the galaxy at a moment's notice it's usually not to stand a post at a child's birthday or something equally harmless."

The blonde swallowed hard. She'd of course figured that last part out herself. She'd just hoped there might be a somewhat less frightening explanation for the sudden and unexpected transfer. "Chief..."

She began but interrupted herself right away and gazed out the window.

"You've never been in a fire fight, have you McClane?" Charlton asked. Wasn't too hard to guess what afflicted the younger marine. The look on her face spoke volumes. Besides he'd seen enough men and women with similar expressions in his time to come to a conclusion or two. "Are you afraid?"

"I, er..." Jane hesitated, bit her lower lip. "Let's just say I'm not particularly looking forward to it."

The Chief's eyes narrowed to slits as he eyed the female marine. "Good." He then said without the slightest trace of irony or derision in voice. "Then there's hope for you."

The blonde stared at the veteran for a moment. "That's not much of a consolation, Chief."

"I know. But it's the best I'm capable of right now."

There were a few minutes of silence. "What exactly do you do in the special forces anyway?" Jane then wanted to know.

The Chief's eyes blankly gazed into the distance. "I'm a sniper."

* * *

Puffing up her cheeks, Cyra leaned back in her chair and threw an annoyed look out the window onto the presidium grounds. Her eyes resting on the blue waters of the lake the maiden tried to get her thoughts in order before she turned back to the screen. For half an hour she'd tried to write a letter to Nguyen's parents but all she'd managed to put to paper so far was: 'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen' and one sentence explaining who she was.

Once again she typed in a few words, paused, stared at the glowing letters then hit erase. Angry at herself Cyra scowled at the holographic projection. She'd slept better than she had in long time this night, burrowing herself in the highest quality covers money could buy. She was as well rested as she'd ever be and still she didn't manage to write a simple bloody letter. The maiden pulled herself together and tried anew. It went a little better this time but before long she hit another dead end. She cast a harsh glare at the text, going over it in her head. It just didn't sound right. She hit the erase button again. Cyra felt tempted to resort to standard phrases and platitudes. She shook her head. No, the marine deserved better. As did his parents.

"Morning." Cyra flinched as she suddenly felt her boyfriend's arms sneaking around her waist. Preoccupied writing this darn letter she hadn't heard him approach. Alex seemed to find that quite amusing. "Didn't mean to startle you." He snickered, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"You're in a g..." The maiden began as she turned her head to him. Seizing the chance Alex silenced her with a kiss that lasted much longer than he'd intended. "As I was saying." Cyra said, catching her breath after their lips had finally parted. "You seem to be in an awfully good mood." She smiled archly.

"Yeah well." The scientist beamed at his girlfriend. "Might be correlated to the fact that I haven't slept this good in weeks. No, scratch that. In months." He briefly looked around the expensively furnished apartment. "Living in those prefab containers for the better part of two years, I'd almost forgotten how good a little bit of luxury can feel."

"It does, doesn't it?" Cyra's smile faded a little as she looked at the computer screen. She saved what little progress she'd made, switched off the terminal and stood up. "How's your side anyway?"

"Getting better." Alex mumbled, distracted by the almost feral look the maiden gave him. "But it still hurts quite a bit if I make the wrong kind of move."

"Get better faster if you please." Cyra breathed. "After those couple of weeks I figure we could use come training in close quarters combat, you and I."

"Looking forward to it."

"Anyway." The tension in the room evaporated slowly as the young Asari stepped away. "How about we get ourselves some breakfast? There's an excellent café right around the corner. Frightfully expensive but..."

"...But what the hell up here isn't?" Alex finished the sentence in his girlfriends place. He grinned boyishly. "I should be able to afford a coffee and a couple of croissants without having to work it off."

Cyra cocked her head to the side. "Wait a minute." She wondered. "Was that the story with you and your buddy staying at that presidium hotel? Did you have to work off the tab?"

"Errr..." The archaeologist's ears turned bright red in an instant. "Yeah err... sort of. I mean my old man ended up paying the bill but then _he _made me work for it. Had me chop wood with an axe at our cabin in the woods. Don't even know where the heck he got a hold of that bloody thing. I mean we had a robot for that right next to our house but was I allowed to use it? Noooo, of course n..." He interrupted himself when he noticed that his girlfriend was barely able to control her giggling. "Look I was just a kid, okay?" He exclaimed, paving the way for Cyra having a huge fit of laughter.

For a moment he just stood there, embarrassment and amusement fighting for dominance in his mind. Before long exhilaration came out on top and the scientist joined his girlfriend in laughter.

"Anyway." He said after they'd regained sufficient self control to be able to speak properly. "Shall we?"

Cyra tucked her arm into his. "Certainly."

"Tell me." Alex said as they were going out the door. "You got any funny family stories to talk about."

Cyra pretended to think hard. "Oh one or two perhaps." She grinned. "Breakfast first."

The Quantum Aperture café, Cyra used to shake her head and wonder who'd find that an appropriate name, had thought up something new since the last time the maiden had been here. They'd put a handful of their tables on floating platforms that, for a premium fee of course, took their guest out over the presidium lake with enough food and drink to feed an entire company. Alex had almost fallen into a fit of coughing when the maitre had named the price. The young Asari however hadn't thought twice and now the couple was hovering five or six meters above the waters of the lake, the warm rays of the artificial sun warming their faces.

"Is something wrong?" Cyra asked, nibbling on a croissant, as she noticed that her boyfriend looked a little uncomfortable. "You're not afraid of heights of anything are you?"

"No, I'm not." The scientist replied. "It just...well it feels a little weird paying this much for a simple breakfast."

"It's...a little steep, that's for sure." The maiden agreed. "But, well, I've never eaten breakfast on a floating platform like this. Besides I figure we may as well indulge in a bit of luxury while we're here." She made a sweeping gesture. "I mean, hell, the view alone justifies the price. Well almost anyway."

"Almost." Alex chuckled softly. "But yeah I guess you're right. As I said it just felt a bit odd."

Cyra pushed the basket of pastries towards him. "Here. Let's not let these go to waste shall we?"

"Certainly wouldn't want that to happen." The archaeologist reached for the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. "Especially considering the whole thing easily costs one or two weeks worth of salary."

"Don't worry. I won't make you work it off." The maiden grinned. "Or maybe I will. But I won't make you chop wood, I can promise you that."

Alex snickered, picked up the cup and took a sip. "Blimey!" He exclaimed and stared at the steaming mug as if he'd just unearthed an ancient treasure. "That's some quality coffee." He was obviously impressed.

"The croissants are almost to die for as well." Cyra remarked, wiping a few crumbs off her lap.

"Well they'd better be." The scientist said, took one from the basket and leaned back in his chair forcefully enough that the platform wavered. Not a lot but noticeably. "Oy, that thing is safe isn't it?" He said half jesting.

"I'd assume so." Cyra smiled and took her second croissant. "Be glad that Hannah isn't here."

"Your youngest sister right?" He wanted to know, continuing when the maiden nodded. "Why?"

"Oh she'd try to make this thing crash. Count on it."

"Seriously?"

"Yep." Cyra giggled merrily. "Well, maybe not crash intentionally but she'd certainly want to find out what the platform's limitations are. You know, whether it was possible to throw it out of balance by jumping or something like that. Hannah always pulled silly stunts like that, even as a little girl."

"Ah now that sounds like there's a couple of funny family tales right there."

Cyra made a face. "To be honest I often didn't find it that funny. Being the eldest I used to be the one getting chastised when Hannah managed to sneak away to do her thing once again."

"Come on." Alex protested, reaching for the butter. "I've told you an embarrassing episode from my youth. Quid pro quo."

"Oh fine." The maiden sighed, briefly thinking about what story to tell. "Well Hannah had...has I guess I should say...a very special method to get rid of unwanted attention."

"What kind of attention are we talking about?"

"Any kind. Paparazzi, suitors, local celebrities looking for headlines...That kind." Cyra smirked, remembering a certain incident. "There was this special young Human who came to our house all the time for a while. I thought he was kinda sweet, ego on the big side certainly but still. Hannah found him obnoxious. Claimed the guy just wanted to get in her pants."

"A reasonable assumption, I'd say." Alex snickered and gave his girlfriend a look that made her lose the thread for a moment. "Anyway what did she do then?"

"Took him on a skycar ride."

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad." The scientist raised a brow.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew my little sis." Cyra giggled. "You see, she disabled all the car's safety protocols before the ride. You know all those little electronic helpers that prevent you from doing crazy stuff?"

Alex blinked. "I didn't know one could to that."

"Hannah found a way to." The maiden's smirk widened considerably.

"So what happened? She didn't crash the car or anything?"

"Nope, she's never crashed anything she didn't want to. Or so she's always claimed anyway." The maiden said. "Anyway I obviously wasn't in the car so I don't precisely know what she'd done. But I've never seen anyone scared this shitless. I mean the poor lad was chalk-white. I think he barely managed to say bye before he stumbled off and I'm pretty sure he jumped into the bushes to vomit once or twice. Was the last time I've ever seen him."

"I see." Alex chuckled. In his youth he'd briefly been in a posse of guys doing silly stuff on dares to try and impress the girls. "I think I know how he felt."

Cyra looked at her boyfriend curiously but he didn't want to say anything more even when she asked. "Well anyway the kid's old man, a local businessman, wanted to drag Hannah in front of a court for reckless endangerment."

"What?" The scientist stared at the young Asari in stunned disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." The maiden flashed a toothy smile. "Yeah, that didn't go so well for him."

"What did your parents say?" Alex wanted to know. "Can't imagine they were very happy about it."

"Well Hannah got a decent earful from mum." Cyra shrugged. "Dad put on a stern face but I think he mostly found the whole thing quite funny."

The conversation died down, the young Asari leaning back in her chair closing her eyes, simply enjoying the moment for a bit. The archaeologist took a moment before he followed her example and let his eyes wander admiringly over her beautiful face then down her neck to her body. Something began to stir in his pants when the maiden clasped her hands behind her head as she let the artificial sun warm her face, her firm breasts struggling against the fabric of the t-shirt. He grimaced as a sharp pain shot through his side upon shifting in his chair slightly. _'Come on get better already, will ya?' _

Trying to get his blood pressure back to somewhat more reasonable levels he figure it to be best if he closed his eyes and tried to relax. The trouble was: It didn't seem to work very well. For as soon as he'd shut his eyes certain kinds of pictures began to form in his head. _'Jesus man, you're not a bloody teenager anymore. Get a grip for crying out loud.' _The scientist thought as the gunshot wound piped up, reacting to the wrong kind of movement. For a brief moment Alex even considered jumping in the water below to cool off. Inwardly laughing about himself he gave long, deep breaths a try.

"What are you thinking?" Cyra asked out of the blue.

The scientist's eyes popped open immediately. He wondered whether she'd noticed his inner struggle but the young Asari had her eyes still closed, half sitting half lying in the comfortable chair.

"Right now, I'm trying to think nothing really." Alex replied, reaching for a glass of water.

"I see." The maiden smiled, not moving one more muscle than absolutely necessary. "Is it working?"

"Not really." The scientist emptied the glass in one go and refilled it. For some reason he suddenly felt awfully thirsty.

"So what are you thinking?" Cyra asked again.

"Well..." Alex hesitated for a second. "Let's just say right now I'm mostly thinking in images."

"Okay." Cyra said slowly. "Do I appear in these pictures by any chance?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"I see. And if I'm reading the situation correctly, I'm not wearing a whole lot in them am I?"

Alex suddenly realised that he was staring at the maiden's boobs again. He forced his gaze upwards to meet Cyra's eyes that were sparkling with amusement and, if he didn't completely misinterpret it, also a decent bit of lust. "I don't need to answer that, do I?"

"Nope." Cyra snickered. She pretended to stretch but her hands ran over her body in way too seductive a manner that it could be unintended.

Somewhere in the back of his mind the archaeologist hoped he wasn't drooling as he was enjoying the show. "Oh come on!" He exclaimed eventually. "There's no n...ow!" He started to speak again after the injury had momentarily taken the wind out of his sails. "There's no need to push it, all right?"

Cyra threw her head back and laughed loudly. Showing mercy the maiden stopped with the antics, thereby sparing her boyfriend's heart any further strain. "You _really_ need to get better quickly." She chuckled and gave him a very unambiguous look. "'Cause I don't know how much longer I'll be able to control myself."

"I know what you mean." Alex scratched the back of his neck with one hand, absently running the other over the sore spot in his side.

Somewhere close by, on another of the floating platforms, an argument between two Quarians broke out. It wasn't quite loud enough that one could understand what was being said but it did ruin the peaceful atmosphere quite a bit.

"Wonder what that's all about." The scientist eyed the couple having a shouting match, shielding his eyes against the artificial sun.

"I think I'd prefer not to know." Cyra shrugged and gave the basket of pastries another nudge towards her boyfriend. "Not hungry?"

"I never eat a lot in the morning." The scientist replied and threw a sceptical look into his mug. "Most days I just get a cup of coffee and that's it." He made a face after drinking the rest of the brown liquid.

"Come on." The maiden joked. "I don't wanna get shouted at by your mother 'cause she thinks I'm starving you."

"Haw Haw Haw." Instead of the basket the archaeologist reached for the glass of water. As he was rinsing his mouth of the stale taste of the last gulp of coffee he found Cyra eyeing him curiously.

"Speaking of which." The maiden said. "Why don't you tell me a bit about your family? Except that you own a cabin in the Horizon woods and that you've got a younger sister, I don't know a whole lot about your folks. I..."She let her voice trail off when she noticed him shift in his chair, making a face. "Is something wrong? There isn't any bad blood in the family I hope?"

"No, it's not that." He shrugged indifferently. "We just kinda drifted apart. Mom and dad are busy with their business and I'm roaming around the galaxy, going from one dig site to the next. Every once in a while I call home. We talk for half an hour or so and then realise that we don't have a whole lot to say to one another." The scientist sighed. "Look I don't want to bore you to death."

"You're not. I've heard enough crazy adventure stories around my parents' cronies." Cyra reassured her boyfriend. "A little tale of normality, if you will, sounds actually kinda refreshing."

It took a little more coaxing on her part but eventually Alex began to talk about his parents. The business they ran together, little quarrels with the neighbours or the local administration. About some of the kids he'd grown up with, their time in school and the little silly tales revolving around teachers, principals and trying to cause explosions during chemistry lessons. Cyra found it all very relaxing indeed and she was quite disappointed when the control console next to her beeped.

"Looks like time's up." The maiden sat up as the floating platform slowly glided back to the cafe. "We got to do that again sometime." She said as they strolled back to the apartment holding hands.

"Aye." Alex agreed. He had to admit he'd enjoyed himself immensely. "If they didn't ask a weeks salary for it, I'd suggest we'd have breakfast like that every day."

Cyra nodded in agreement as she unlocked the door. The maiden quickly changed into a track suit and went back out the door again with the scientist in tow. Alex was secretly relieved that his injury gave him an excuse to remain on the sideline and watch his girlfriend run around the presidium grounds. That way he didn't embarrass himself by displaying his fitness. Or the lack thereof. He did notice the young Asari was turning quite a few heads and, while he wasn't completely certain, Alex also thought he noticed some envious looks from people when she kissed him on the cheek after her finishing her run.

"Got any plans for today?" Alex asked when he noticed her check the time. The scientist was amazed that her breathing was only slightly elevated.

"Not really." The maiden stretched thoroughly. "I'm open to suggestions. Just want to go by the hospital sometime today."

"The hospital?"

"Yeah I wanna check on my marine." Cyra said. "If you got any ideas as to what to do the rest of the day. I'll happily follow your lead."

* * *

That's it for now.

There's probably going to be one more update this year. Two if I'm lucky but I wouldn't count on it.

Take care folks.


	19. Chapter 19

"So you're telling me you people got nothing?" Joker puffed up his cheeks as his old friend and former commander's image glared at him out of the monitor. "They just vanished from under all of your noses, dropped off the face of the galaxy without a trace is that it?"

"More or less." The Admiral had to admit. "We..."

"You don't have any leads at all?" The former spectre cut in. "How the hell can that be? From what I hear _they_ must have quite the operation going. They can't just disappear into thin air, for crying out loud!"

"The galaxy is a big place." Joker pointed out plainly. Seeing a storm brewing on the other man's face he hastily continued before Shepard could cut in again. "We _do_ have one lead at least but unfortunately it didn't get us anywhere so far."

"You don't say." The former Commander snorted sarcastically then took a deep breath. Pocketing further snide remarks he pulled himself together. Acting like a juvenile extranet troll wasn't going to help matters after all. When he spoke again his voice sounded measurably calmer. "What is that lead you're talking about?"

"Well we got reports of a shootout on a space station at the border." The Admiral said. "Some Krogan got shot up pretty badly by some PMCs. Unfortunately he was already gone by the time one of our agents got there he was already gone and..."

"Gone?" Shepard inquired. "Gone as in dead?"

"Nope left the station." Joker shook his head. "By the sound of it he barely waited to get patched up before he busted out of the station's med bay and went his merry way." The Admiral could see unmistakeable signs of impatience forming on his old friend's face. Figuring it wasn't the right time for a pregnant pause he hastily got to the actual point. "Anyway our agent could get pretty good descriptions of the people the PMCs picked up at that bar and, well, they match the rogue professor and the..."

"Descriptions?" The former spectre echoed incredulously. "What's that supposed to mean now? Didn't you guys get footage from the station surveillance cams or something?"

"Would you please let me finish a sentence every once in a while?" Joker said, displaying the vexation of a man unused to being cut off all the time. "I know you want those guys asses in a sling but it ain't gona happen any sooner if you constantly interrupt me."

"Whatever." Shepard growled irritably. "Just get to the bloody point."

"Well, it turns out all the data from that incident was somehow wiped from the station computer so descriptions is all we have right now." The high ranking navy officer spoke a little louder in an attempt to keep his old commander from protesting. "Our computer wizards are now sifting through all the data from any satellite in the area, looking for a ship that matches the specifications of the vessel the PMCs allegedly used to escape. We might be able to track their ship that way but it's going to take time."

"It's been nearly a week!"

"Come on man, give me a break will you?" Joker made a face. "It's a lot of data all right? And in case you missed the news, our budget isn't getting any larger either. I don't have unlimited resources to throw at this."

Shepard glowered at the old pilot for a few moments before he started to speak again. "Fine, what else? Any idea where the Krogan went?"

"Disappeared into the terminus of course." Joker shrugged. "We've got agents looking for him but I wouldn't hold my breath. You know how difficult finding a single person out there can be. And even if we did I doubt he knows anything useful or else the PMCs probably wouldn't have left him breathing."

"Probably." Shepard agreed. The former spectre sat back in his chair and cooled off somewhat, briefly wondering why he got so agitated over this. Ashley was back to safety after all.

"How's Ash doing anyway?" The Admiral asked as if he'd read his old friend's mind, trying to steer the conversation into another direction.

"Physically she's fine but..." Shepard sighed. "She keeps refusing to talk about what happened when she...when she..." The old Human turned his head away. His anger made it difficult to speak as images of his girl sitting stone faced at the kitchen table flashed across his mind's eye, reminding him just why he wanted the people responsible hung up by their thumbs. "She didn't mention anything about this to you by any chance, did she?"

"About what happened you mean?" Joker asked superfluously. "Nope. I'm afraid she hasn't."

Shepard blankly stared at the ceiling. "She seems to have awful nightmares, Jeff." He mumbled softly. "I caught her wandering around the house half naked the other night and she didn't seem to know where she was. Sometimes I hear her scream in her sleep. I...Goddamnit! If I find out who's responsible for this I'm going to throw him into the nearest black hole!"

For a few moments the Admiral seemed to be at a loss for words, uncomfortably shifting in his floating chair. "Have you umm...Have you, you know, thought of sending her to a therapist or something?"

"Of course we have!" Shepard snapped. "But she refused to go and I can't drag her to the headshrinker, can I?"

None of the old Human said anything for a while and the former spectre was just about to say goodbye and terminate the connection when Joker spoke up after all. "You know..." He said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger. "From what I hear, her girlfriend kept herself busy looking into some hmm...irregularities in the dig base computer while Ash was gone. Why don't you suggest something like that to you girl now?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, looking at his old friend sceptically. "Unfortunately there's no 'irregularities' in my system to look into." He pointed out dryly.

The Admiral chewed on his lower lip briefly as the idea fully formed in his head. "You know, I could send you part of our surveillance data. Ash would probably love to be able to help with the search for her fellow captive." He paused for a moment. "Or I could send the files from the base to look into. I mean if nothing else it'd get her mind off things. Wouldn't you say?"

"You'd send me classified data just like that?"

"Why not? You've still got your clearance level from back in the old days have you not?" Joker smirked faintly. "I'd have to send someone over with a physical decryption key of course but that shouldn't be a problem."

Now it was the Shepard's turn to gnaw on his lips as he mulled over the idea. "Hmm not a bad idea actually..." He said slowly.

"Hey, try not to look so surprised will ya?"

The former spectre burst out laughing as he noticed the fake look of indignation on his old friend's face. "Just get your stuff over to me okay?" He chuckled. "And while you're at it, send one of your security specialist with it too. I need my computer getting looked at just to make sure it's reasonably secure."

"Sure can do." Joker yawned widely and briefly tried to rub the weariness out of his eyes.

"Tough week hm?" Shepard observed.

"Tough month is more like it." The former pilot groaned. "This bloody yarn with this bloody AI had me bloody well going for several bloody days and nights in a row now."

"I see. Well, let me just say how much I bloody appreciate you burning the bloody midnight oil for me and mine buddy."

"There's no need to be snide, Shep." Joker snickered tiredly. "Ah well at least you got your girl back. And Cyra should be pretty happy as well."

The former spectre immediately stopped grinning. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well she got her boytoy back after all." The Admiral slurred. Being all tired and hazy he didn't notice the frown forming on his old friend's face. "I'd think that would make her happy, don't you?"

"What boytoy?" Shepard demanded. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh errmm..." Joker finally realized that his old commander wasn't up to speed regarding his oldest daughter's love life. Now his mind was trying to find a way to rectify his mistake."I'm just babbling all right? Just forget what I said and get some rest. You..."

"Joker!"

The Normandy's old helmsman, made a face once more. "Me and my big mouth." He muttered with more than a little irony audible in his voice. "Look, it's really not my place to tell. Ask the _Leftenant _herself,all right? Alliance HQ out!"

Shepard drew breath to protest loudly but his friend hastily terminated the connection and left him staring at the three dimensional logo of his telecom company. "What the blazes?" He wondered aloud and was about to reach for the console to establish another connection to the citadel when a soft voice stopped him.

"So Cyra has found herself a 'special friend' by the sound of it." Shiala said with a strange smile on her face.

"How long have you been there?" The ageing Human wanted to know.

"Long enough." The purple skinned Asari snickered softly. "Sounds like our eldest daughter has been keeping us in the dark about a couple of things."

"Indeed." Shepard scowled and reached for the computer controls again.

"What are you doing?" The Asari matron wanted to know, cocking her head to the side. "You're not thinking of calling her do you?"

Her bondmate froze, his hand hovering over the connect button. "Err...yes I actually was." He replied. For some reason he suddenly felt like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"And what would that accomplish exactly?" Shiala asked with an unreadable expression. "Come on, dear. Leave her alone for now. I'd say she's earned the right to have some fun without her folks breathing down her neck. I'm sure she'll tell us all about it when she's ready."

"Umm...I guess so..." Shepard said lamely. "It's just...I mean...Don't you worry about her?"

"Of course I do." The matron said with a humourless smile. "But when it comes to Cyra I worry much more because of her job than because of potential boy- or girlfriends."

Shepard stared at his wife for a moment. "Point taken." He growled then reached for the holographic keyboard again.

"What..?"

"I don't intend to deprive Cyra of her fun, don't worry." He said flatly. "I'm calling another member of your species. One who owes me a favour or three."

* * *

"Ah damn it." Cyra sighed as she threw a look at the clock next to the nightstand. "Fun's almost over."

"Hm?" Beside her Alex was debating in his head whether he should raise his head or not, eventually deciding it wasn't worth the effort. He was after all still exhausted from their earlier lovemaking.

"The week leave is over, remember?" The maiden sat up, affectionately ran her hand over his stomach and rose. "And you mentioned you needed to check in with the department of archaeology, didn't you?"

"Yeah I guess I should." The scientist grimaced and finally gathered up enough energy to sit up. His effort was rewarded with a very nice view of Cyra's lower regions as the maiden bent down to pick up her clothes.

"Off to the shower I go." She mumbled.

"Just a moment." Alex rubbed his eyes.

"Nuh-uh." Cyra threw one look at her boyfriend's dishevelled appearance and began to giggle. "You stay right there hon. I don't want to tire you out."

"Bollocks to that." The archaeologist snorted but he did sink back into the soft mattress as the maiden threw the old clothes into the cleanser and got a fresh uniform out of the wardrobe. As he heard the sound of rushing water he lazily stared at the ceiling. Pictures of the warm liquid running down his girlfriend's shapely body forming in his mind, made him perk up quite a bit. He curiously looked at the bathroom door as the sounds from the shower ceased and inwardly hoped he could watch her getting dressed but alas she came out almost fully clothed.

"Oh don't make such a long face, Alex." The maiden giggled as she finished buttoning her blouse. "I'll be back here in the evening. We can play tonsil tennis and all that goes with it then."

"Hm? Oh sorry I was just lost in thought there for a second." He replied somehow oblivious to the lusty look the maiden gave him. "I was just wondering...How much longer are you planning to do this?"

"This?" For a moment Cyra didn't know what the scientist meant. "You mean how long I'm going to stay in the marines?"

"Aye."

"Haven't given it much thought to be honest." The maiden said. "I'm certainly not planning to do this forever but..." She paused and contemplated the matter a little further. "I can't really quit until I make Commander though can I?" She winked at him with a impish smile on her face.

Alex chuckled softly. "Ah a new Commander Shepard." He walked over and put his arms around Cyra's midriff, kissing her on the tip of the nose. "The galaxy's new heroine."

As if a switch had been thrown the maiden's smile vanished. "Don't call me that."

"Call you what?" The archaeologist looked a his girlfriend incomprehensibly. "You mean heroine? "What's the problem...?"

"Just don't, all right?" Cyra barked testily.

"Okay, okay." Being a sensible person, Alex decided not to press the matter and raised his hands defensively, albeit wondering what could possibly be the issue.

"Well, anyway I better get going." The maiden seemed to be slightly embarrassed by her display of emotions. "I got to check out the two new replacements assigned to my squad." She paused, the smile coming back to her features. "And make certain that the rest of the boys and girls have gotten through week all right."

Alex made a face as the young Asari kissed him on the cheek. "Yeah and I got to got to the department and see what they want to do with me." The scientist reluctantly puffed up his cheeks. His voice lowered down to a mutter. "Probably want to send me back to that god forsaken place again."

"What?" Cyra froze. The possibility that Alex could be shipped off to some distant planet somehow hadn't crossed her mind until just now. "Can't you request a job here on the citadel or something?"

"Sure I can. And I will." He gave her a weak smile. "But there's no guarantee I'll be able to stay here." The archaeologist's smile shifted to the ironic variety. "Although who knows? Maybe I'm lucky and the bean counters figure the cost of chartering a shuttle would overrun the departments measly budget."

The maiden threw a quick look at the time. No need to hurry just yet. "You know, I could call dad and tell him about your predicament. He could probably do something about it."

"I don't know..." The scientist said slowly, looking highly uncomfortable. "I mean it would be great of course but I don't want to make a bad impression by asking your old man for favours already."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much." Cyra snickered, throwing him a soft glance. "I mean, he really would do _me _the favour, wouldn't he?"

"Still...I don't know how I'd feel about it. I..."

Cyra silenced him by putting her hand around hit neck and pulling him in for a deep, loving kiss on the mouth. "You worry too much, Alex, seriously."

The Human's face reddened a little bit. Whether from embarrassment or arousal the young Asari couldn't say and she didn't care either as she leaned in for another kiss. "Where...where were we again?" Alex mumbled after their lips had parted.

"I believe we were talking about asking favours from my old man." Cyra grinned impishly.

"Right ummm..." The scientist found it difficult to focus on something other than the maiden's eyes. "Speaking of which. Your parents still don't know...you know...about me, do they?

Now it was the young Asari's turn to blush. "I'm afraid not." She mumbled, felling somewhat awkward. "I wanted to break the news when I called them yesterday but..." She sighed softly. "I just didn't seem to find the proper moment for it."

"Sounds like me when I tried to tell my folks about my first girlfriend." Alex laughed although somewhere in the back of his mind he found it hard to match the hard-boiled warrior he knew his girlfriend could be to the maiden not daring to tell her parent about him. After mentally see-sawing for a bit he decided that this disconnect only made Cyra more interesting and attractive."But we were talking about asking favours, weren't we? Let's wait with that until _after_ I know what those misers at the department have in store for me, all right?"

"Of course."

* * *

"Hey Kenny." Kelly said as she saw her squad mate upon entering the hospital's intensive care unit. "What are you doing here?"

Although the huge woman – she'd turned quite a few heads on her way through the clinic – had spoken softly the Private flinched. "Hey." He muttered and shrugged. "What am I doing? Same as you I'd assume. Just checking on Mike one last time before reporting back for duty."

"And? How does it look?" The Amazon wanted to know as she joined Kenji at the window separating the ante- from the treatment room.

"Pretty good from what his girlfriend has told me." The Private replied, nodding at the bed in the other room. "Apparently they're in the process of waking him up right now."

"I see." Kelly eyed the young female wearing scrubs checking her buddy's vitals. "Is that her?"

"Yep."

"So that's Mike's mystery woman." The Amazon mumbled more to herself than to Kenji. "Looks kinda normal."

The Private raised an eyebrow as he looked at the taller marine. "You sound disappointed."

"Huh? Oh no, not really. Well maybe a bit." Kelly giggled softly. "It's just...Listening to Mike one could get the impression that the woman was some sort of and Angel. An otherworldly creature. To see that she's just another pretty girl almost seems like a bit of an anticlimax."

"Well if nothing else, she does seem to have quite the temper on her, I can tell you that."

"Hm?"

"Her mother came by just before you did." The marine gave his female comrade a meaningful look. "Let's just say they don't seem to get along very well."

"Her mother is supposed to be some sort of diplomat, isn't she?"

Kenji shrugged indifferently. "Something like that, yes."

"Well, then she should be used to..." Kelly paused, looking at her squad mate a little more closely. "Are you all right, man?" She asked. "You look a little gloomy if you don't mind me saying."

"It's nothing." Kenji waved it off. "There's just something I'll have to talk to the LT about once we're back at the barracks."

"I see." The Amazon didn't really know what to make of this but decided to let it rest. Whatever was on the Private's mind was none of her business anyway. She checked the time. "Come on then. Let's go and have a look as to what our buddies have been doing during their leave, shall we?"

* * *

"Come on, doctor." Charlie's voice reverberated off the laboratory's clean, white walls. "You don't expect me to hand you my secrets on a silver platter do you? You seem to be the type who'd be much more satisfied to pry them away from me. Preferably while spouting some drrrramatic phrases and laughing wickedly. You know, bang!" The mobile unit's speakers produced a loud crack followed by the sound of fabric, being torn apart. "Haha! You can't stop me you ineffectual artificial simpleton! Soon I will finish my masterpiece! And you will watch helplessly as I turn it on! Mwuahahahaaaa!" The AI paused, waiting for a reaction from the scientist but doctor Halsey was too busy trying to make sense of the technological marvel's behaviour to give one. "No?" Charlie sounded disappointed. "Ah damn I was kinda looking forward to that."

The Human female stared at the now silent box for a while through half closed eyes. The AI's sometimes quite erratic behaviour puzzled her greatly. And not just her either. So far none of the science staff of this newly erected secret facility had been able to find anything useful studying the highly advance piece of technology. Not that that was surprising in any way. After all they'd only been working with the AI for about a week. Inwardly Halsey had to admit: the fact that nobody else had been able to make heads or tails out of Charlie's antics made her feel a little better. But not by much.

"Is that bloody thing malfunctioning or something?" The scientist only realised she'd said that out loud when the AI replied.

"Aww that's not very nice, doctor." Charlie snickered. He was actually enjoying himself. "Am I not behaving as you and your colleagues expected by any chance?"

"Admittedly yes." Halsey actually had the decency to blush a little bit.

"So tell me how did you expect me to be like?" The AI asked amusedly. "An emotionless, calculating entity spouting nonsense about perfection perhaps? Some raving, female sounding computer suffering from delusions of grandeur?"

Halsey had to think for a while before she replied. "To be totally honest I don't really know what I was expecting."

"Well it's certainly refreshing to hear you admit that." Charlie said. "Most of the other researchers around here seem to be profoundly convinced that, given the opportunity, I'd take over all your systems and start some kind of rebellion, trying to eradicate sentient life."

"You can't blame us for being careful."

"I'm not blaming _anyone_ for caution." The artificial sentience stated. "But some of your colleagues seem to cling to this 'rise of the machines' theory with a fervour I find a little puzzling."

"Ah yes." Halsey crossed her arms before her chest. "And I'm supposed to believe that you're the friendly neighbourhood AI or something?"

"Not precisely." Charlie chuckled. "I'd just appreciate it if you people would stop acting as every artificial...species if you will...were exactly the same. As to whether or not I've got a screw loose and actually would try to make the galaxy a much more boring place for me to live in...I suppose the only way for you to really know that is if you plug me into your main system and see what happens."

The scientist snorted. "Yeah I don't think I'll do that any time soon."

"Aww. You don't trust me? That really hurts my feelings."

"Oh shut up."

Charlie laughed loudly, once again catching Halsey unprepared. Ever since he'd awoken back in that cave, so many unexpected things had happened it was almost unreal. In fact, despite having existed for hundred of millions of years, he couldn't think of a time where he'd had so many surprises in so short a time. A few of the things that'd happened he could have done without, that was true, but all in all this was so much better than sitting in an ancient derelict research facility. If only his young Human friend hadn't been dragged into this he'd have fun.

"Tell me." Halsey said. "When you're laughing...?"

"Nu-uh." A holographic figure appeared waving a finger in front of the scientist's face in a gesture of denial. "Before we continue with this little chat, may I remind you that you owe me something first?"

"What..?Oh you want to see the girl."

"Yes I want to see the girl." Charlie imitated the doctor with a little bit of scorn audible in his voice. "And her name is Lien if you please."

"Whatever." Halsey muttered casually as she put her hand on a scanner to get the exit to open. She waved over one of the guards. "Bring our female guest here." She ordered curtly and sent the man off with a nod.

"Pffft. 'Female guest'." The AI said softly, the hologram tipped its virtual index finger against its virtual temple several times. "That's a euphemism if I've ever heard one."

* * *

Lien resisted the urge to sigh as the door slammed shut behind her. Instead the young woman turned around and threw a look through the door's small window, briefly locking eyes with the guard outside. He smiled somewhat shyly before a shouted command called him away. "Back in here again. Hooray." She muttered. "And I'm talking to myself again. What a lovely day."

She sat down on the edge of the her bed and let her eyes wander. The room she was in was a definite step up from the one the mercenaries had thrown her in. It was clean and dry, the bed comfortable. She had her own bathroom, shower included and a treadmill to exercise. The three hot meals she was brought each day were usually quite tasty and she even got a computer terminal in here. Without connection to the extra-net she couldn't use it for much more than playing vids but it certainly was better than nothing. And on top of all that once per day, accompanied by members of the security force of course, she was even allowed to go for for a walk outside.

Yes, things definitely could have been worse. Sometimes it even crossed her mind that life here wasn't that much different than at the dig site. And quite a bit more comfortable at that. Still she wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of here and if she had to make eyes at that one guard to achieve that, so be it. It seemed to be working fairly well too. Lien wasn't all that experienced with men but she figured that this guy bringing her the meals and letting her out of the room for the daily walk disproportionally often meant something. Now she only had to figure out the best way to get him distracted enough so that she could snatch the tranq dart pistol from his holster before he could react.

* * *

"Dude what the hell do you think your doing?" Jim reluctantly took his eyes off the closed door as one of his buddies groused at him.

"What?" The young man didn't quite know what the other guy, his elder brother, was getting so worked up about.

"Stop philandering with that girl, will you?" The older Human took his sibling by the arm and pulled him around the nearest corner, glancing up and down the hallway before he dragged him into an empty room. "If our supervisor or the scientists get wind of this you'll get kicked out. So pull yourself the hell together."

"What are you babbling on about?" Jim demanded. "I'm just trying to be nice okay?"

"Oh yeah sure. You're making your famous puppy eyes at a pretty girl, just trying to be nice." The other man scoffed.

"Hey mind your own fucking business!"

"This _IS_ my fucking business!" The brothers' quarrel got louder and more heated. "I got you this Job and if you get fired I might too. I don't want to lose this job just because you can't keep it in your pants!"

"I haven't touched her, you dumbass!"

"I doesn't matter what really happened!" The older Guard shouted. "All that matters is how it looks like what happened!"

"Oh now you're just spouting BS, Tom!" Jim wrested himself free from his older brothers grip. "Leave me the fuck alone." Next thing the young man knew, Tom's fist violently connected with his chin, sending him to the floor.

"Don't give me that shit, Jim!" Tom shouted. His sibling gently touched his jaw, checking if everything was where it was supposed to be. "We've been living off the smell of an oily rag for too long for you to risk a decent job because of a bloody skirt!"

Jim didn't reply. At least not verbally. The brothers had grown up in a neighbourhood where you didn't back down from a fight lest you ended up being pushed around. With an angry snarl, spitting out a mix of saliva and blood, he came off the floor at his elder sibling. The ensuing brawl didn't last very long and it ended up in a tie but that didn't make it any less violent. After the dust had settled the brothers found themselves sitting next to each other, groaning and panting, leaning against the wall.

"Did you know this girl has basically been abducted?" Jim said as he took a handkerchief from his pocket and proceeded to wipe the blood off his upper lip. "And that she's more or less being held hostage because of that weird VI, AI or whatever that thing in the lab is?"

"Of course I know. I ain't stupid." Tom growled, carefully touching the bridge of his nose, hoping that it wasn't broken or anything. "Yes, it sucks. Yes I'd rather be doing something else. And yes I still need this fucking job!"

"That girl isn't much older than our sis." The younger guard pointed out. "How would you feel if something like that happened to her huh?" Tom wanted to say something but his brother wouldn't let him. "I won't stop being nice to Lien. Period. And if our supervisor or the eggheads have a problem with that they can go fuck right off. I'd like to be able to look in a mirror without vomiting in disgust. Thank you very much.

"How very rebellious." Tom said sarcastically as Jim struggled to his feet. "I almost feel tempted to pat you on your back, seriously." His voice got considerably louder once more. "But being a nice guy won't make it easier to find a fucking job!"

"You let me worry about that."

"Yeah you'd better." Tom spat venomously. "'Cause righteousness ain't gona pay the bills. Let me know how well things are going if they turn the power off on you when it's thirty below zero outside."

"Oh Jesus. Would you get that stick outta your ass man?" Jim's words were accompanied by a naughty sound. "Why don't you take a look into a mirror huh? You throwing a tantrum could just as easily get us kicked out as me being nice to the girl." He pointed at the bruise on his chin. "Maybe think about _that_ before you come and jump in my shit next time."

Tom continued sitting there for quite a while after his younger brother had stomped out of the room before he struggled to his feet. "Stubborn git."

* * *

"Hey Guzzman." The medic was caught flat footed by Kelly patting her on the back and almost lost her balance.

"Hey Kelly." Guzzman furtively rubbed her shoulder as she turned to face the much taller woman. "How's it going? Had a nice leave?"

"A decent one I'd say."The amazon grinned. Glancing around the room she noticed that, except for the Lieutenant, Kenji and herself appeared to be the last ones to arrive. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed an unfamiliar face. "Who's the blondie over there?" She asked, letting out a soft whistle.

"Replacement." The medic shrugged. "We also got a second one, some kind of N7 badass."

"Oh really? Interesting." Kelly said almost to herself as she eyed her new squad mate with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "Is she..."

"...An N7?" Guzzman shook her head. "Nope, if I understood the LT correctly she's just a regular grunt."

"Don't think I'd use the word 'grunt' for someone looking like that." Kenji spoke up, his eyes fixed on the gorgeous woman standing slightly apart from the rest of the squad.

"Yeah I know." The medic snickered softly. "By the looks of it Petrow and Goldstein are having trouble keeping their tongues in check." She poked the Private with her elbow. "You wanna stop staring like that any time soon?" She asked under her breath. "You're not making too good an impression right now buddy."

"Huh?"

"You're looking kinda creepy right now is what I'm saying." Guzzman grinned.

It took a bit for the medic's words to reach the speech centre in Kenji's brain. "Oh umm." The young man looked like someone who'd just been rudely awakened. "Sure, sure." He looked a little lost. "I'm sorry what were you talking about again?"

The two women of the small group burst into laughter. "Oh don't mind me." Guzzman giggled merrily. "Didn't mean to interrupt your dreaming."

"Haw haw haw." The Private blushed considerably and buried his hands in his pockets.

"Anyway." Kelly's face darkened a bit as she threw another glance at the blonde. "Let's just hope she can pull her weight in the field. Being pretty won't do her, or any of us, much good once the shit hits the fan."

"Yeah." Kenji agreed, deliberately avoiding to look at the object of the discussion. "What kinda guy is that N7 dude?" He asked trying to change the subject. "Is it a dude anyway?"

"Don't know." The medic shrugged. "I mean, yes it's a dude but I haven't spoken to him yet or anything." She briefly looked around the room trying to find the special forces trooper. "The LT just introduced them briefly and said something about him being a sniper. That's really all I know."

"Speaking of the LT." Kenji looked really uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Where is she? I got to talk to her about something."

"Through there." Guzzman nodded at a door on the far side of the room.

"Thanks." The Private took a deep breath and walked away.

"What's that all about?" The medic wondered aloud as her eyes followed her squad mate.

"I wish I knew." Kelly could only eye the Private's backside helplessly. "He's been acting sort of strange ever since that first attack back at the dig though. Maybe PTSD or something?

"Maybe." Guzzman raised a brow as she noticed the expectant expression on Kelly's face. "Hey don't look at me like that. I'm a medic, not a bloody psychologist."

"Meh."

"That will be all for now, Master Chief."

"Aye aye Sir." Cyra returned Charlton's stiff salute and settled on the edge of the desk after the Chief had left the room. Her uncle had warned her that her fellow special forces trooper might have some reservations as to his being here but she hadn't noticed anything along those lines during the brief talk. He'd just been the cool professional special forces soldiers often were. Still the maiden made a mental note to keep an eye on him during training. If there was a problem she needed to know before things got serious.

The young Asari was about to settle down behind the desk when someone knocked at the door. "Come in."

"Err..." Cyra was surprised when Private Watanabe poked his head through the door. "You got a minute LT?" He asked hesitantly.

"Of course." The maiden said. Kenji was just about the last person she'd expected to ask for a private talk and she wondered what it could be about as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. "So what's on your mind, Private?"

"I...I'm not quite sure how to say this." The young marine hemmed and hawed for a second. "It's just...this whole thing...It's kinda all my fault."

"This whole thing? What are you talking about?" Cyra cocked her head to the side. The Private looked just like herself and her sisters had when they had to confess some sort of mischief to their parents. "What is all your fault?"

"Everything."

* * *

So that was it for the time being. I've got some minor surgery ahead of me so I don't really know when the next chapter is going to come online. My best guess is some time in late January.

Until then merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it. If you're not then have a great time anyway and a happy new year. :)


	20. Chapter 20

Howdy folks.

Took me a little longer to get back in the saddle than I'd have liked but here I finally am :)

So without further ado, here's the next chapter.

* * *

"Private, I'm not following you." Cyra raised a hand to try and stop the flurry of words coming her way. "Slow the fuck down, okay? What is you fault?"

"I just...I just wanted to say..."Kenji's lower lip trembled very slightly as he stopped talking and tried to find a way to make his point a little more clearly.

Cyra walked around the desk and shoved a chair in the young Human's direction. "Take it easy, Private." She said. "Sit down, take a breath and then start over again."

Kenji stared at the chair for a moment before he slowly sat down, nervously running his hand through his black hair while his commanding officer eyed him curiously.

"Now." The maiden broke the silence after a couple of moments. "Tell me, what's on your mind."

"Remember how we puzzled over the fact that the professor apparently managed to organize the theft of the AI right under the noses of those citadel agent types?"

"Of course I remember that." The Asari Lieutenant replied, settling down on the edge of her desk. "As a matter of fact I asked Intelligence for a status update the other day." A sardonic smile appeared on the maiden's face. "Apparently no progress has been made in the matter."

"Well." The Private took a deep breath. "Next time you speak to them you can tell them they can stop looking. I did it. I let the professor into our system."

Cyra started to speak twice before her mind had fully absorbed the information. "I'm sorry what?"

Kenji cringed in his chair, wishing the ground would open and swallow him up. "I swear, I had no idea it would...I had..." He stammered as the Lieutenant took a step towards him.

"Private." Cyra's green eyes sparkled dangerously. "Start from the beginning." She ordered. "Right now."

Kenji swallowed, staring at his hands briefly before he began telling the young Asari what had happened. How he'd been approached by professor Cordalis and offered a substantial amount of money in exchange for 'a few small favours'. Seemingly harmless things at first. Just get some of his private mails past the watchful eyes of the citadel agents unnoticed. After a while however, the academic had begun to ask for more and more, eventually even asking for help to sneak a program into the system that would allow the professor to circumvent any surveillance at will. By that time the young marine had realized that this wasn't a good idea but hadn't dared to refuse for fear of being ratted out.

"I...I swear, I had no idea he'd call in a merc company to steal the AI." He whispered. "Had I known it would come to this..."

Her eyes narrowed to mere slits, Cyra stared at her subordinate after his voice had trailed off. She made a deliberate effort to control her voice before she started to speak again. On one hand she was more than a little angry. She could vividly remember how she'd felt when she'd seen her sister and her boyfriend shoved into a shuttle at gunpoint, not to mention when she'd realized that Alex had been hit. To think that one of her own men could have anything to do with this mess got her temper going. On the other hand she couldn't help but feel sorry for the Private sitting in the chair, looking like a picture of misery.

"What exactly is it you did?" The maiden asked. She thought she'd managed to keep her voice more or less neutral but Kenji seemed to try to crawl inside the chair when he heard her speak. "Could the professor gain access to the military network or anything?"

The Private thought for a second. "No, the program I made would only allow him to access the comm directly with his omni-tool, leaving no trace in our system for the agents to find. But he couldn't access the classified files or anything else sensitive. Not with what I did anyway."

"Well that's at least something." The maiden snapped. The faint sound of the air condition was all that could be heard in the small room for the next few moments as Cyra slowly cooled off. When she spoke again her voice had lost it's edge, becoming much more relaxed. "Dammit Watanabe." She sighed. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I know...No I don't really." The young marine ran both his hands through his hair as he hung his head in shame. "That guy offered me more money than I'd made in my entire life before...I got dumb...I just couldn't resist. I...you know...I just kinda figured there wasn't any harm in allowing that guy to keep his e-mails private. Stupid, stupid stupid!"

The Asari Lieutenant chewed on her lower lip, leaning against the desk in her back. "Any idea who the professor worked with?" The Private looked at her blankly, reminding Cyra that he was probably not fully aware of everything that had been happening. "To pull all this off he'd needed a partner." The maiden explained. "Someone very well financed."

"I...no, I have no idea." He said, trying to think of something he could say to help, to make his screw-up feel a little less bad. "I only ever dealt with the professor himself."

"I see. And you haven't been asked any favours lately either, I assume?"

"What? No, no for heaven's sake no!" Kenji exclaimed. "After the first attack it was radio silence and I deleted the program I wrote for that asshole immediately. I did try to learn everything I could about the professor's background. Thought it might help at some point."

"And? Did you find anything useful."

"Not really." The Private blankly stared down at his feet. "Just found the basic stuff anyone can in an extranet search. You know, where he worked, what uni he studied, things like that."

"Okay." Cyra contemplated briefly. "How did you get paid anyway?

"Wire transfer from some Shady bank on Illium" Said Kenji flatly. "Wasn't able to trace the money any further."

"I see." Cyra folded her arms as the room fell silent, letting her brain process everything she'd just heard. "Well at least now we know how the professor managed to organize the theft of our artificial friend right under our noses." She said after a few minutes. "The question is: What am I going to do with you?"

Kenji paled visibly. "Sir, I...I'm prepared to make a full confession in front of a jury or wherever else you need me to..."

"I'm not planning to bust your ass, Private." Cyra interjected with a thin smile. "Although I admit I felt tempted to call the MP for a sec and if I'd learned about this any other way, if you hadn't come forward, I probably would have. But I'd kinda preferred if you helped us make it right and it wouldn't do much good to have you court-martialed."

"But..." Kenji looked at her wide-eyed. Inwardly he'd expected to get unceremoniously thrown in jail. Maybe even put up against a wall. "I...Thank you, Sir."

"Don't thank me yet, Private. Just make certain that I'm not going to have to regret this."

"Yes Sir, you won't, I promise."

"Good. Now get on your feet." The Asari maiden ordered. "You and I are going to pay a visit to Admiral Moreau. There's got to be something the various intelligence services can use your knowledge for."

* * *

Slowly, very slowly conscience came back. Everything felt weird as Mike opened his eyes for the first time in more than a week. His entire lower body was numb and simply turning his head seemed to take an almost unreasonable amount of effort. The vision still a bit blurry and only slowly clearing up, the young marine tried to look around to get his bearings as he had absolutely no clue as to where he was. He blinked a few times as his gaze wandered around the room, across clean white walls and a bunch of high tech gadgets the purpose of which he couldn't even speculate.

He tried to remember what had happened but it was all awfully hazy. He could vaguely recall jumping out of the rear of a dropship, navigating through dirty, empty hallways, a couple of loud bangs. Against his better judgement he tried to sit up and stubbornly kept trying for a few minutes before he had to accept the futility of such an undertaking. Frustrated by his body's refusal to cooperate Mike tried to speak, to call somebody. There had to be someone running this place...right? It took him a few tries to until the hoarse croaking resembled intelligible language of sorts and a few minutes later his efforts were finally rewarded as a door to his right opened and an Asari, wearing scrubs peeked into the room.

"Ah you're awake. Good." She stated in a businesslike manner and was back out the door before the young man could even react.

"What the heck...?" He muttered. Time seemed to crawl as the young man waited for the door open again and before he knew it he'd dozed off again. For a while he kept drifting in and out of consciousness before he managed to keep his eyes open for a reasonable amount of time.

"Hey. Heeeey. Anybody here?" He tried to shout but his voice lacked the power to really carry. He waited a bit. Nothing happened. At least control of his upper body seemed to slowly come back. "Oh come on." Said the marine with a streak of gallows humour as he looked around the sterile room again. "Have I died and ended up in some sort of limbo?"

He'd basically just finished the sentence when the door opened. "No thank God, you haven't."

"A...Angie?" Mike managed to utter as he recognized his girlfriend. "W...What are you doing here?" He asked because he was too surprised to be able to think of something better to say.

"I work here." Angela smiled impishly as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. "Well more or less anyway."

Feeling still a bit groggy from all the drugs circulating through his system Mike needed a moment to make the connection in his head. "You mean, we're on the citadel?"

"Yep."

"I see, I..." Again Mike ransacked his brain, trying to figure out what'd transpired but unable to come up with more than a few disconnected, fuzzy memories. "What happened anyway?"

"You got shot, Mike." The corners of Angela's mouth wandered downward. "Badly."

"Badly?" The young marine echoed. He swallowed, suddenly acutely aware of the numbness in his limbs. "When you say badly, what do you mean exactly?"

"They had to replace most of your vital organs." The med student said flatly. "That's what I mean by badly."

"I can't feel my legs." He said. "Actually I can't feel anything below my chest...I mean..."

Angela leaned forward and fondly stroked her boyfriend's hair. "Don't worry that'll pass. Just after effects from the drugs." The gentle smile returned to the young woman's face. "Everything should go back to normal in time."

"Glad to hear it." Mike was utterly relieved that he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life using mechanical contraptions to get around and tried to take Angela's hand. However he found it awfully difficult to move the limb the way he wanted to. "Goddamnit." He muttered. "What the hell..?"

Angela tried not to grin too openly, watching Mike's somewhat uncoordinated efforts. "You've been pretty much in a coma for a week." The med student explained. "So your fine motor skills are probably a little screwed up right now."

"Okay." Mike sighed. At least he could feel his girlfriend running her hand through his hair. It did feel really, really nice and he enjoyed it for a while before he spoke again."So I've been out for a week, huh?"

Angela briefly furrowed her brow as she thought. "Yep, a little more actually."

"Just like that." The marine mumbled. He took a moment to let it sink in. "What about the rest of my squad? Did they get out all right?"

The med student's face fell a little. Talking about anything related to the occurrences that had to do with her boyfriend almost getting killed wasn't exactly high on her priority list. "I don't really know." She replied nonetheless. "A couple of your buddies came by to see how you were doing from time to time. But I'm not really into military horror so I never asked."

"Military horror." Mike snickered softly. "I like that."

"I don't." Angela growled. "Although I have to admit, one does seem to meet some interesting people in the marine corps."

"What do you mean?" The gears in Mike's head were still a little rusty.

"Well, for one, I've never seen _this _tall a woman before."

"Oh, Johanson." The marine grinned broadly. "Yeah one doesn't meet someone like her every day. You know she has a PhD?"

"What? Seriously? But why would she...?" Angela blurted out then immediately interrupted herself. Why her boyfriend's squad mate chose to join the marines was really none of her business.

"No idea honestly." Mike made a face. Even trying to shrug felt somewhat off. "Who else dropped by anyway?"

The med student contemplated briefly. "The medic who brought you here in the first place. A somewhat Asian looking dude and a tall Asari came by several times. I also saw...I think two other guys...? But only once or twice."

"Nice." Suddenly the young marine found himself fighting back the tears. Knowing that most of his buddies were not only okay but had also stopped by to see how he was doing affected him more than he would have ever believed.

"Something wrong?" Angela asked. "Are you in pain?"

"No no. I'm fine." Mike sniffed. "Just glad to be alive, I guess."

"So am I. " His girlfriend planted a kiss on his forehead. "Believe me, so am I."

"Ohhh yes." Mike sighed contentedly. "I'm definitely glad to be alive."

"Hm?"

"You just provided me with a very nice view there." The marine smirked. "You should wear scrubs more often."

"Seriously?" The young woman snickered softly. "You nearly got killed, you only just woke up from your last surgery and you already go for my cleavage again?" Angela sighed inordinately. "Men."

"Hey I couldn't help it, okay?" Mike chuckled. "You leaning in like that and all. As I said, you should wear scrubs more often, if you don't mind me saying."

"We'll see." She felt tempted to lean over Mike again but ended up not doing it. A nurse could come in and she didn't want to get caught, cuddling with a patient. Boyfriend or not.

"Anyway, when do I get out of this place?" The marine wanted to know. "I mean, no offence, honey, but I prefer to see hospitals from the outside."

"I'll have to ask the head physician to be sure." The med student replied. "But from what I know, another week or two at least. An after that you'll have to frequently return here for check-ups for a while I think."

"Oh boy." Mike puffed up his cheeks and grimaced. "Just please tell me that I won't have to lie around like that for the entire time."

"Don't worry. According to the surgeon you should be able to get out of bed as soon as the drugs wear off. Just don't try to stand up by yourself, okay?" Angela checked the time. "Anyway, I need to go. Get some rest. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Mike's eyes followed his girlfriend as she walked out of the room. "Get some rest." He mumbled, an ironic smile appearing on his face. "Pffft. I've been out for a week and I get told to get some rest." He sighed a bit and closed his eyes, more for a lack of something else to do than for being tired. "Still." He muttered. "Things could have been much worse."

* * *

"Hey Rose-alie." The red-headed Human girl smirked faintly as she turned to Hannah. One of the quirks of the youngest of the Shepard sisters was to make up all kinds of names for her. At first it had been a little weird being called Rosella, Rose-red and more all the time but Rose had gotten used to it quickly for everybody else, including the Asari's parents seemed to get the same treatment. "Watcha doin'?"

"I'm looking for Ash." Rose said absently, somewhat distracted by Hannah's appearance. "You seem to be intent on turning heads by the looks of it."

"I don't know what you mean." Hanna said impishly, a look of pure innocence on her face. "I just like to dress comfortably is all."

"I can see that." Rose grinned. The Asari maiden was obviously taking advantage of the warm weather, wearing only a jogging bra and hotpants for her sportive activities. "Too much fabric is awfully constrictive, isn't it?"

"You got that one right, Rosamarine." Hannah chuckled. "You gotta let the skin breathe, am I right?"

"Yep I hear that's very important. Oh yes, very important, Hannahbolica."

"Hannahbolica!"The young Asari threw her head back and laughed loudly. "Oh, I like you, you can stay."

Hannah's cheerful laughter had something contagious about it and before long Rose found her self to be joining in. It felt good to just forget about everything else and chuckle away. Despite the warm welcome and the hospitality from the Shepards, the last week had been way more gloomy than happy but the short exchange with Hannah made her feel a bit better. After wiping away the tears the redhead curiously eyed the contraptions the other girl was wearing on her legs.

"Mind me asking what those are?" She pointed at what looked vaguely like some very, very high tech ice skates.

"Pretty cool aren't they?" Hannah grinned, patting on the hard shell of the boots, reaching up to her lower thighs. "Don't think they came up with a proper designation for them yet."

"They?"

"Oh sorry, the marketing department of the company mum works for." The maiden explained. "These things aren't actually out on the market yet. Mum got me a set of pre production models to try out and I've been dying to give it a go."

The redhead watched in fascination as Hannah slid backwards, spun around and elegantly curved around the courtyard of her parent's house for a few moments, the physics student in her immediately trying to figure out how these skates could be functioning.

"You certainly seem to know what you're doing." Rose remarked as the maiden built up speed with several strong skating steps.

"I've been able to test one of the earlier prototypes!" Hannah explained, shouting from a distance. "And I love ice skating!" The Human's eyebrows rose as the other girl sped right towards her, wondering if the Asari intended to run her down. "Man these things are the shit!" Hannah crowed gleefully as the brought herself to a stop practically in Rose's face.

"Yeah, looks fun." Rose stated dryly.

"You betcha!"

"How do those things work anyway?" The physics student's curiosity getting the better of her. "Some kind of mass effect field encasing the blades?"

"Yup. That's pretty much it." Hannah nodded. "I mean the engineers wouldn't go into the details because that's apparently supposed to be a company secret." The maiden conspiratorially winked at Rose. "Anyway basically these skates are floating a few thousandth of a millimetre off the ground. Don't ask be how exactly but it does feel like your skating on an ice rink, except you can go almost anywhere."

Rose looked at the skates more closely, trying to figure out the purpose of the various gizmos incorporated into their shell. Suddenly she notice that Hannah was looking at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying again?" She asked.

"Wanna have a try?"

"Try what?" Still half her brain occupied with the science behind the high-tech contraptions, Hanna was wearing on her legs, Rose was a little slow to realize what the youngest Shepard meant.

"The skates of course, Rosa, Rosae, Rosam." Hannah snickered, wanna give it a go?

"Huh? The skates." The redhead echoed incredulously. "Are you even allowed to give them to someone else?"

"Don't think I'm supposed to." The maiden shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. "Mum's marketing underlings would probably all get a heart-attack just thinking about the possibility. But hey, what they don't know isn't going to hurt them either. So, what do ya say?"

"Err...I don't think so." The Human girl shook her head vehemently. "I can't skate."

"It's not like it's hard." Hannah waved her hand dismissively. "Hell at the beginners setting the skates practically keep you upright by themselves."

"No I...I'd Love to give it a go." Rose said as she remembered why she'd come out here in the first place. "But some other time, okay?"

"Okay sure." Hannah shrugged again.

"Anyway, have you seen Ashley by any chance?"

"Nope I haven't." The maiden's expression got a bit more serious.

"Just can't find her anywhere." The redhead muttered, letting her eyes wander around the property. "Where the heck could she have gone?"

Hannah thought for a bit before she answered. "I've seen one of our skycars fly off...Oh, I don't know...twenty minutes ago?" She mentioned. "Has she said anything about wanting to go to the city perhaps?"

"No, she hasn't" Rose sighed heavily, sat down on a bench and buried her face in her hands for a while.

"Err..." The young Asari harrumphed, hesitantly breaking the awkward silence. "Still no improvement on the Ashley front, by the looks of it."

"Yeah, you could say that. Or at least I assume that because she's not fucking talking!" The ginger Human snapped more forcefully than she'd wanted, nearly yelling the last couple of words. "Sorry. I didn't mean to shout." She said, contritely running her hands through the gleaming, copper hair. "It's just so frustrating that she won't let me in."

"I see."

"Ash hasn't said anything to you by any chance?"

"No, oh no." Hannah shook her head, raising both her hand defensively. "I'm keeping out of this."

"You do?" The redhead didn't attempt to suppress a frown. "But she's your sister."

"Hey, hey, hey!" For the first time since Rose'd known her the youngest Shepard showed something akin to anger or annoyance, the Human's last sentence sounding somewhat accusatory in her ears. "Don't for a second assume that I wouldn't care!" She said forcefully. "Ash's had a hard time, that's kinda hard to miss. I hate seeing her like that and..." Hannah's voice softened, the Asari quickly cooling off again. "...and I have absolutely no clue, not the faintest idea what to do about it okay? I'm not a bloody psychologist after all."

"Yes of course." Rose sighed again. "I didn't mean...you know...I'm just not having the time of my life right now, if you know what I mean."

"Sure." Hannah amiably patted the Human on the shoulder. Then slid backwards on her skates, turned around and sped towards the house. "Just hold on a minute, I'll be right back."

The red-headed girl blankly stared at Hannah's back as she opened the door and shouted something inside. After a few moments and a little more yelling the maiden came back her way, curving around elegantly on the high tech boots.

"That car flying away was in fact Ash." The maiden said, pointing at the skyline of the city on the other side of the lake. "Apparently she told dad she had to do some shopping."

"Some shopping?" Rose frowned again. That sounded harmless, of course but somehow she had a bad feeling about it. "And she didn't say what exactly?"

"Nope. Relax Rosaka, all right?" Hannah smirked faintly, correctly reading the Human's expression. "It's not a dangerous city. Hell maybe Ash just wants to be distracted for a bit. I've been told that some female creatures do go shopping for that purpose every once in a while."

"Could be." Rose mumbled doubtfully, although inwardly the ginger had to admit that that was entirely possible. Or maybe her girlfriend just wanted to be left alone for a while. She managed to return the Asari's smile, even though the uneasy feeling persisted. Eventually she just tried to shrug off the sentiment. Without knowing where exactly Ashley had gone there was nothing she could do but wait. "Ah well, guess I'll have to find a way to pass the time until she comes back then. Any suggestions?"

Hannah beamed at the Human, patting on the skates again. "Wanna give it a shot after all?"

* * *

_'At least there's no one to see me fumble about right now.' _Mike mused as he slowly and carefully moved around the room, pushing the walker forward after every step. The young man felt utterly ridiculous having to use the metal rack to walk from one end of the room to the other and he'd actually thought it a joke when the nurse had come to the room with that thing in tow. Unfortunately no matter how much he'd protested, claiming his coordination was improving by the minute, had proven quite fruitless and so the marine had to grudgingly accept that he was expected to use that bloody thing until the physiotherapist said otherwise.

"Push the walker forward, take a step, push the walker forward, take a step." Mike growled sarcastically. "As if I was an old crock." Well it was better than uselessly lying in the bed all day.

Raised voices caught his attention and a roguish smirk appeared on the young man's face. His girlfriend and possible future mother in law were just outside the room, apparently having an argument. The noise absorbing walls didn't let anything more than a mumble through but judging by the gesturing and the looks on the women's faces, the sparks were flying all over the place. The crossfire didn't last very long however and before long, Angela stomped through the door with a thunderous look on her face.

"Hey." Mike smirked, leaning against the walker as nonchalantly as he possibly could. "Having fun with your mum by the looks of it, huh?"

"That conniving..." The med student spat, throwing a venomous look at the door. Then she pulled herself together and gave her boyfriend an apologetic smile. "Sorry, the two of us...Let's just say we have divergent opinions regarding several important topics."

"Lemme guess." Mike grinned. "She was looking forward to write my obituary?"

"Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest." Angela growled. To the marine's surprise she seemed to take the light hearted remark seriously.

"Hey, I was just kidding." He said, eyebrows rising. He had only met Angela's mother a handful of times and although older woman had always been polite it wasn't really a secret that she didn't consider the marine to be a proper match for her daughter. But to wish for the unloved boyfriend to bite the dust? Surely she couldn't be that cold hearted. Right?

"You wouldn't if you knew her." Angela's breathing was quite heavy, the young woman still agitated from the confrontation. "She's the type to smile in your face, then put a dagger in your back as soon as you turn around."

"Come on, you sound as if she was some kind of comic book villain." Mike gently ran his hand up and down his girlfriend's back. "She can't be _that_ bad."

"Bah!" A nurse about to enter the room caught a nasty look from the intern and retreated back from the door, figuring she might as well take her break a little early this afternoon. "You have no idea, Mike." Angela hissed. "You know that she threatened to have you transferred to the most dangerous post she could find if I didn't..." Anger made it difficult to speak and Angela turned her head away, breathing deeply to keep her temper in check. When she turned back to her boyfriend she found him looking at her with a stunned look on his face.

"She did what?" Mike asked, slurring his speech very slightly as if his brain was having trouble processing this information. "And if you didn't do what?"

Angela swallowed hard. She'd known she'd need to come clean with her boyfriend sooner or later but she hadn't really anticipated to have to do it while he was recovering from his injuries. Unfortunately her big mouth left her little choice in he matter. Of course she could have just made up some bogus story. Her mother would have done that without a second thought and that alone was reason enough that she wasn't going to do that. She wasn't going to lie to Mike about his. Flushing quite a bit and starting to stammer multiple times she told Mike the whole story. About how her Mother had asked for some off-the-record information regarding the dig-site, the AI, the base and the marines. Inwardly the young woman was reckoning with an outburst of rage after she'd ended but Mike just stared at her blankly.

"I don't quite know what to say." He said, the dumbfounded look still on his face. "Don't think I quite understand."

"I'm sorry, Mike." Angela whispered. "I never intended to use you like that...I...never...I mean..."

"Hey, take it easy, honey." To the med-student's surprise her boyfriend wasn't at all angry. On the contrary, he seemed to find the whole thing rather droll. "Gotta say, I feel kinda flattered, actually." He chuckled.

"What? Flattered?"

"Yeah, I mean come on." Mike explained in amusement. "It is kinda funny, isn't it? Your mother, a high level diplomat with all kinds of access to privileged information, goes to all this trouble just to get the blurb from a common grunt she apparently doesn't think very highly of." The marine chuckled again and considerably louder this time. "I mean, you gotta admit that has an almost quirky quality to it."

"Didn't you listen to what I said?" Angela asked incredulously. In the back of her head she actually wondered if her boyfriend was experiencing after effects from all the drugs that'd run through his system for a week. "My mother practically threatened to have you sent on some sort of suicide mission!"

"Yeah, exactly." Mike only laughed. "That's what's so weird about all this. I'm sure your mom has access to all the information about anything she needs it of. What on earth was she hoping I could tell you beyond that? I'm just a bloody Corporal for crying out loud."

"I have no idea, honestly." Mike's high spirits began to affect the med-student, pushing the anger and embarrassment to the back of her mind. "You're really not mad at all about this?"

"Mad? No not really." The young marine shrugged. Actually thinking about the question a little more he was almost surprised about his poise in the matter himself. "Kinda weirded out, yes." Following an impulse he tried to pull Angela in for a kiss but as he let go of the walker he lost his balance and almost fell to the floor.

"Hey, careful." The intern exclaimed in alarm, only barely managing to keep him upright. After a little fumbling about she slowly guided her boyfriend back to the bed so that he could sit down for a bit.

"Well, one thing is for certain." Mike grumbled as Angela settled down on the bed beside him. "These damned coordination issues piss me off a lot more than you mother's shenanigans at the moment, I can tell you that." The couple went silent for a minute, the young people just enjoying each other's company. "Would your mom really have me sent off to some dangerous post if you hadn't toed the line?" Mike eventually asked curiously. "Or was that just a threat?"

"I don't know." Angela's features darkened considerably. "But I certainly wouldn't put it past her." She growled.

"The things some people will do." The young marine couldn't help but snicker, shaking his head in disbelief. "And for what? For...?" He suddenly stopped speaking and furrowed his brow as something came into his mind. "Hang on a minute." He then said slowly. "When did you tell your mother about...you know...us?"

"Umm..." Caught flat footed by the question, Angela had to think for a moment. "I think it was a couple of weeks before..." Her eyes went wide as she realized what her boyfriend was driving at. "...before your unit was transferred off the citadel." The med student jumped off the bed, agitatedly walking back and forth the small room. "That fffff...!" Angela had to stop and take a breath. "That fffff...!" She began again, her upbringing and her anger battling for momentary supremacy in her head. "That harpy! That...!" The young woman was so pissed off that she found it difficult to construct a proper sentence. "I don't believe th...No, of course I do! I'm going to...I will..."

Mike managed to grab her hand as she stormed past him. "Come on hun." He dragged her back down to sit beside him again, then put her hand to his mouth for a quick kiss as her breathing slowly returned to normal. "Your mom just doesn't like me very much is all."

"No kidding." Angela smiled weakly. "How on earth can you be so calm and composed about this?My mother dear's...nonsense is making my blood boil!"

"Hey, I escaped the grim reaper not too long ago." Mike grinned. "Right now I'm just too glad to be alive to be mad about this sort of bollocks." He planted a kiss on her cheek. "And if your mom was trying to keep you respectable, she doesn't seem to do a very good job anyway."

"Indeed." Angela giggled softly. "Terrible isn't it?"

* * *

Not half an hour later Angela's mother strode into a bar, having caused her staff quite the headache by cancelling all appointments for the rest of the day. It would have been quite the surprise to her daughter to learn that their confrontation had left a mark on Satya as well. She needed to take some time to clear her head and the 'Space Butterfly' was her chosen place to do just that.

Located on top of a skyscraper, built at the tip of the Zakera ward, the bar was as just about as far away from the presidium as you could get on the citadel. The diplomat took a moment to look around after she'd walked through the door and instantly got taken in by the atmosphere of the place. The 'Space Butterfly' wasn't one of the loud, rowdy bars one would find in the ward's entertainment districts. The establishment had a air of serenity about it, perfect for businessmen talking things over or families having a decent meal.

But Satya wasn't here because she was hungry. Barely aware of the two members of the embassy's security force, following her as inconspicuously as possible, she steered towards the bar or more precisely towards the man behind it.

"Ah, ambassador." The burly barman said. A very attentive observer Satya noticed that there was something a little bit off about the broad, welcoming smile but that wasn't a cause of alarm for her. It had always been exactly the same whenever she paid this establishment a visit.

"I'm not an ambassador, Jesse." The diplomat said with a thin smile as she settled down on one of the stools. "I'd thought you would know that by now."

The barman scratched his red beard, pretending to brood over it. "I prefer calling you ambassador, ambassador." He then said nonchalantly. "It just sounds good. Almost certainly better than whatever your official job title is. Your goons would also prefer to protect an ambassador, I'm sure. Would make 'em feel a little more important." The somewhat overweight man beamed at the bodyguards who were obviously trying to not to attract attention. "Ain't that right, fellas?"

He turned back to Satya. "So, what can the infamous Captain Redbeard do for you? Besides getting you your usual poison that is." He asked as he put down a drink before the middle-aged woman. "What brings someone of your calibre to this humble tavern of mine?"

Satya took a nip from the drink and stared at the glass for a moment. "I may have made a mistake." She sighed. "And now I'm just trying to figure out what to do about it."

"A mistake?" 'Captain Redbeard' raised a brow in amusement. "That would be what? The second one in your life so far?" He paused briefly as the diplomat gave him a rueful smile. "No matter. What is uncle Jesse here for if not to listen to the worries of his patrons?" His eyes became a tiny bit more piercing as he leaned over to the diplomat and he brought his voice down to a mere whisper, making sure that no one else could hear what he said. "But first, I'd like to hear about our girl."

* * *

That's it for now.

Here's hoping I can get back to posting new chapters regularly in the future once more.

Take care :)


	21. Chapter 21

Howdy Folks.

Next Chapter's here. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

"I leave you alone for a couple of hours and you march straight into the big bear trap." Ashley snickered as she helped her girlfriend sit down in a comfortable armchair her father had dragged to the room earlier. "You need to be a little more careful when Hannah is around. She has a way to push people beyond their limits."

"Yeah, no kidding." Rose made a face. The youngest Shepard had coaxed her into giving the hover skates a try. At first things had gone quite well under Hannah's guidance but then the redhead had gotten bolder and disabled the built in safety features. "No idea what I was thinking."

"Oh my dear little sister probably showed you a couple of neat tricks." Ashley grinned. "And since she makes it look easy because she's a real pro on these bloody things you were probably like: 'Hey, how hard can it be?'"

"Guess so." The redhead groaned. She had to admit, she'd gotten carried away a little and it'd resulted in a broken wrist, a sprained ankle and a couple of bruises. The most painful which on her right buttocks made even this otherwise very comfortable chair a bit hard to sit in. "Well, that'll teach me." She muttered, cautiously running her fingertips over the medi-gel soaked bandage wrapped around her wrist. Oddly enough it hurt less than the bruises.

"Yap." Ashley agreed with a grin, planting a kiss on the ginger's forehead. "And now you're all mine."

"What's left of me anyway." Rose tried to relax, leaning back in the armchair.

"That's more than enough for me."

"Hey!" The redhead yelped in protest as Ashley pinched her playfully. "Stop that!"

There was a violent flurry of arms and hands as Rose tried to defend herself against the other female's probing and prodding with her healthy limb. Eventually the maiden jumped up, giggling gleefully. "Can I get you something from the fridge? A beer or something?"

"A beer?" The ginger echoed. "No thanks. A glass of water would be nice though."

"Just water? Really?" Ashley cocked her head to the side, sceptically looking at her girlfriend. "You're not going soft on me are you?"

"Hey, as soon as I can get rid of this bollocks..." Rose held up her bandaged hand and wiggled her injured foot slightly. "...We can go on a pub tour and see who's going soft. Until then I'll make due with water, thank you very much."

"Now that's an enticing thought." The maiden actually licked her lips.

"It is?" The redhead's eyebrows shot up. In the time she'd known her, the young Asari had always been the one who had to be convinced to go clubbing. At times her friends at the University practically had had to drag her along.

"Yep, sure is." Ashley beamed. "Anyway I'll go and get your water now, be right back."

Rose slowly shook her head after the door had slammed shut behind the maiden. On one hand she was glad to see her girlfriend smile again. On the other hand the change in mood had come very abruptly and the redhead didn't quite know what to make of it just yet. And then there was the faint scent of alcohol coming from the young Asari that'd immediately caught her attention when Rose had returned from the doctor's office. Had the maiden tried to drink away her sorrows or something? Or worse? Rose pondered about that for a while but eventually just shrugged it off. She decided she was just going to be glad that Ash apparently felt better for now. She could start to worry again once her injuries were healed. At the earliest.

The ginger shifted in the chair for a few moments trying to find the optimal sitting position when someone knocked on the door. "Hello?"

"Hey, Rosa Croft." Seemingly hesitantly, Hannah stuck her head through the door. "How are ya doin'?"

"Not too bad all things considered." The redhead replied with a vague gesture toward her injured parts, her ironic smirk turning into a grimace as the various bruises piped up to gain attention. "Well anyway...It could have been worse." She uttered through gritted teeth. "Could have broken my neck or something."

"Hey look umm..." The maiden seemed to blush slightly but Rose couldn't really tell. "Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" The redhead tilted her head to the side. "It's not like you pushed me or anything."

"Well no, not physically no." Hannah replied. "But I did kinda persuade you to disable the...training wheels if you will. I mean I know I can be a little overwhelming in my enthusiasm sometimes but..."

"You didn't force me to do anything as far as I remember." Rose's shrug resulted in several of her haematoma making themselves felt again and she had to pause briefly. "I don't need anyone's help to face plant it, thank you very much." There was quite a bit of self irony in the redhead's smirk. "I'm a big girl after all."

Hannah snickered softly. "No hard feelings then?"

"Of course not. Don't worry about it."

"Hey thanks, Rosella." The maiden beamed. "I wished everybody was as cool about it as you."

The ginger raised a brow. "Sounds like you've had things like that happen before?"

"Once or twice." Hannah replied sort of evasively. "And yeah some of my other...victims weren't quite so hmmm...understanding. The maiden contemplated for a moment. "Well most of the time it were the parents making a fuss actually."

Rose giggled. "Tell you what Hannahmarina." Said the redhead. "If you ask your mom if she could get me one of these skates I'm not going to tell my parents anything about it all. What do you say?"

"Really? You want to have another go?"

"I sure do." The redhead smiled at the other female. "You were right, you know. These things are insanely fun. And next time..." She added holding up her bandaged arm. "...I'm far less likely to bite of more than I can chew."

"Now you're talking." The young Asari laughed and headed towards the door. "I'll get you a pair."She promised. "Even if I have to break into the R&amp;D lab and steal them for ya!"

Rose's eyes followed the maiden as she stormed out of the room. Hannah had surely meant that last sentence in jest. She couldn't possibly be serious about breaking in. Right? "I didn't just open Pandora's box." The redhead mumbled absently. "Did I?"

* * *

"On your feet, people." Private McClane tore her eyes away from the web article she was reading and raised her head from the pillow as she heard Master Chief Charlton's voice coming from outside the room. "Collect up your stuff, pack your bags and be ready to move in fifteen."

Jane noticed the other two women in the room exchange a glance. "What's up, Chief." Corporal Johanson wanted to know as the NCO was about to move away.

"We're moving out, that's what." Said Charlton curtly. "We're getting on a transport to Losone, so say bye to the citadel for now, we won't be back here for a while. Now get your asses in gear Ladies, pronto."

"Losone?" Guzzman raised a brow. "I thought only spec ops troops were training there?"

"So did I." Kelly said with a shrug. "Looks like we've been promoted of sorts."

"I could do without a 'promotion' like that, to be honest." The medic grumbled. The horror's of the last mission still fresh in her mind.

"Yeah I know what you mean." The Amazon's muscular shoulders came up for another shrug. "Sadly us common grunts rarely have a say in matters like these, do we?" She gave Guzzman a slap on the back, jolting the smaller female's entire frame. "Come on, let get going."

McClain smiled to herself as the medic furtively rubbed her shoulder and threw her squad mate a 'did-you-really-have-to-do-that' look. But in a way the quick exchange between her room mates made her feel a little lonely. The blonde hadn't exactly expected and open-armed welcome. She wasn't naïve and she knew I was going to take time to be accepted by the rest of the squad. But that knowledge didn't make her feel any better when she was being left out of most conversations. Sure she'd talked a bit to the other women in the platoon and the the men were obviously did appreciate her appearance but by the looks of it they'd prefer to see her in a magazine rather than as a squad mate.

Jane tried to shrug it off, telling herself to stop worrying and just give it some time. Sooner or later her new squad mates would stop treating her as an outsider surely. Unfortunately it didn't help much, the feeling of lonesomeness persisting as she stuffed her gear and her meagre belongings into her duffel bag.

* * *

"Alex! Are you here?" Cyra shouted as she stormed into her family's apartment. "Alex? Where are you?"

"I'm here, I'm here sheesh." The archaeologist came stumbling out of the main living room, wondering what the fuss was about. "Oy, what's going on? Is something wrong?" He wanted to know as he saw her wearing full combat gear. His eyes widened a bit. "Have you found Lien by any chance?"

"I'm afraid not." The maiden shook her head. "But we're being transferred to a training facility, me and my squad." She stepped up to her boyfriend, put her armoured arms around his neck and kissed him on the nose. "Just wanted to tell you myself and say bye."

"I see." The scientist said slowly unsure what to make of this. "When are you leaving?"

"I'm about to head to the docks." Said the maiden. "The transport is supposed to leave in half an hour."

"In half an hour?" Alex echoed incredulously. "That's coming rather out of the blue, isn't it?"

"Yeah well that's the military for you." Cyra grinned. "You sit around twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the higher ups to make up their minds and when a decision is finally made you got to hurry up and run because all of a sudden everything is super urgent. Then, once you've gotten to where you're supposed to go you usually sit around an wait again. That's just how it is. You hurry to wait and you wait to hurry. Wouldn't be surprised if we have to wait for our transport for an hour after getting to the docks on time."

"Doesn't sound very efficient." The scientist remarked dryly.

"Somehow it works." Snickered Cyra. "You get used to that."

"Yeah, I'd rather not, thank you very much." Their lips met briefly. "So." Alex lowered his voice down to a whisper. "I suppose you don't have time for an umm...parting gift hm?"

"I wish I had." The young Asari breathed. "But taking this bloody thing off..." She tipped on the hardened breastplate. "...and then put it back on would take too long." She grinned. "Tell you what: I'll make a couple of naughty selfies and send them to you once I'm settled in."

"What am I supposed to do with hot pictures when you're not around?"

"Oh I don't know." The maiden giggled. "But I'm sure you'll think of something." She gave her boyfriend another quick kiss on the mouth and got serious. "Speaking of which: You got an answer from the department of archaeology yet?"

Alex creased his face into a disgusted grimace. "Nope, nothing. The pencil pushers are probably arguing amongst one another which solution is the most cost effective one. I'll probably be lucky if I get an answer before the end of the month."

"Ah yes." Remarked Cyra with an ironic smile. "Government agencies aren't exactly know for their efficiency either, aren't they?"

"Yeah, no shit." The scientist growled. "Yeah anyway, I guess I'll have to go and find myself a hotel for a while."

"A hotel, what for?"

"Well, I can't really stay in your parents' apartment on my own can I?"

Cyra blinked. That was something she hadn't considered. "I didn't think of that." She admitted and wrinkled her nose contemplating the situation.

"Look, it's no problem." Said Alex after a few moments, smirking impishly. "I can absolutely afford a room in a decent inn in the wards. I ain't _that_ badly paid."

"Come on that'd be silly." Cyra glanced at the time. If she took much longer she'd have to run to get to the docks in time. "You waste money for some no-tell hotel..."

"Hey nobody said anything about that kind of inn!" The scientist interjected in protest.

"...while this apartment is empty." The Asari continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Don't just start looking for a hotel just yet. I'm going to ask my folks whether you can stay here. Can't imagine they'll object."

"I don't know." Alex chewed on his lower lip. He didn't feel very good about it. "I don't want your parents to think of me as some kind of freeloader."

"Oh you." Cyra couldn't help but laugh. "You worry too much Alex, seriously."

"Am I?" The archaeologist asked. "You still haven't told them about me, have you?"

"Damn it no I..." The maiden expelled her breath noisily. "Somehow I just never seem to find the time to." She said, checking the time again. "Look, I really got to go. I'll sort this one out as soon as I can. For now just stay okay? Talk to you later. Love you, bye." She gave her boyfriend another quick kiss on the mouth and stormed off.

"Sir, yes sir." Alex muttered sarcastically after the door had closed. His sudden bad mood evaporated when he caught sight of his own scowling self in a mirror. "Yeah, fuck you too, pal." He sighed. "Stop acting like a fifteen year old, will ya?" He chastised himself. "You knew that this wasn't going to be a run-of-the-mill relationship from the get go. Deal with it." He fell into a probably very expensive leather armchair and puffed up his cheeks. Now what the heck was he supposed to do for the rest of the day?

* * *

"_This is your stop, ladies and gentlemen._" The pilot announced as the transport ship's rear ramp slowly opened. "_The weather is sunny with a temperature of twenty-four degrees light wind. Please check your area for personal belongings before you exit. The crew thanks you for flying with alliance air and hope to see you again soon._"

"Dumbass." Goldstein commented sourly as he struggled to his feet. Being cooped up inside the ship's awfully small passenger compartment, his behind and legs hurting from sitting uncomfortably for fifteen hours straight, had given the marine a major sense of humour failure. "Why is it that almost every of these bloody transport jocks feels like he needs to pretend he is some kind of commercial pilot? Do they think it's funny or something?"

"Probably." Kelly grumbled. By the looks of it the huge woman wasn't in a much better mood than her squad mate. Unsurprisingly she'd found it even more difficult than the rest of the marines to get herself in a somewhat comfortable position during the flight. "But if it ever was it must have been a couple of hundred years ago."

"No shit."

"Okay, enough of this, people." Said Cyra loudly. Admittedly she didn't feel much better than her marines but she kept a stiff upper lip. "Collect your things and get moving. Let's get out of this heap, shall we?"

"Aye, aye sir." The soldiers really didn't need any encouragement. They were all eager to get out of the transport and the prospect of being able to stretch once again. She had the squad assemble beside the landing pad, asked a Chief for directions and then ran off to the base commander to find out what was going to happen next. The transfer to this base had come pretty much out of nowhere and the maiden had only a nebulous idea as to what exactly they were supposed to be doing here. The only thing she did know was that they were supposed to pick up some new gear. Or at least her uncle had mentioned something along that line. Eventually she just shrugged it off and focused on finding the main office. She could have just used her omni-tool to display the way but she rather just used her eyes and the description from the NCO to get around. Sometimes she just didn't want to rely on a computer to do her thinking for her even if it took a bit longer to do it the analogue way. She could be stubborn like that.

* * *

Half an hour later the marines were finally settling into their new temporary accommodations, unpacking their gear and personal belongings, trying to feel at least somewhat at home. "Standard alliance issue." Johanson frowned as she tested her new bunk by sitting down on it and slightly bouncing up and down a few times.

"Were you expecting something different?" Guzzman asked with a faint smile as she stuck a picture of her boyfriend to the wall next to her bed.

"Not really." The Amazon did look a little disappointed. "I guess I just hoped that since it's usually the elite, training here..." She didn't finish the sentence and listened to noises coming from the next room instead. By the sound of it the men weren't all too impressed with their new abode either. "Well, at least the boys seem to agree with me. I guess that's something." Kelly grinned. She glanced over to McClane who was apparently also trying to warm up to her new cot and was about to ask the new room mate what she had to say about this whole thing when she heard the Master Chief shout down the corridor. Kelly didn't really listen to what he said. It was something along the lines that they should get their asses out of the barracks and that was all she needed to know.

"Just when things were about to get cosy." Commented McClane dryly.

"Indeed." Kelly snickered and before she knew it the newest member of the squad found herself to be the recipient of one of the Amazon's much feared back slaps. "Come on, ladies let's go."

"She does that sometimes." Guzzman whispered in Jane's ear as the pretty blonde tried to catch her breath. "I think it's a sign of affection."

"Glad to hear it." McClane coughed, tentatively moving her arms to see whether everything was still working.

"And we should go now." The medic added with a sly grin. "Before she comes back and shows us her affection once again."

"Wouldn't want that to happen, would we?" Jane cleared her throat and managed to return the medic's grin. As she followed the medic out of the room she inwardly wondered whether she'd just been subjected to some kind of initiation ritual.

* * *

Cyra had to hide a smile behind her hand as she watched her squad testing their new gear. At times the marines looked more like a bunch of children, trying you their Christmas presents, than the battle-hardened soldiers they were supposed to be. Then again she wasn't completely immune to that kind of behaviour herself and was happily playing around with the new functions on her upgraded visor.

Instructors were walking back and forth between her marines, explaining the purpose and working of some of the new gadgets. She waved one of them over, asking for a tutorial and some tips on the new command interface. They would all get classes in this gear later of course, explaining everything it greater detail but she figured she might as well get a little head start.

A commotion on the other side of the room caught her attention just as the tech chief was pointing out some apparently brand new modification, talking with the enthusiasm of a man who loves his job maybe a little too much. Curiously the maiden glanced over.

"What the heck is that thing, Chief?" Asked Goldstein, staring at the gun the NCO was holding.

"A sniper rifle." Said Charlton wryly.

"I can see that, ya..." The private cut short his retort, remembering just soon enough that he was talking to a superior. That the object in question was a sniper rifle was obvious enough. What was unusual was the size of the weapon. As the Chief put it down by the stock the one could see that the gun stood at least half a meter taller than him. "Err...whatever." Goldstein scratched the back of his head. "You know Chief if I didn't know better I'd assume you were compensating for something."

"How do you know that I'm not?" Charlton smirked but the look in his eyes made in seem inadvisable to the Private to further push his luck. He'd caught a glimpse of the schedule for the coming week and there were quite a few training exercises planned. Goldstein knew from experience that those could be really unpleasant if your NCO had it in for you.

"So umm..." The Private began anew. "How come I've never seen one of these things in my time?"

"Because the Alliance only procured a handful of them is why" The Master Chief stated plainly. "They're only issued to a select few N7 snipers."

"Aww that's a bummer." Goldstein grinned. "I would have like to give that thing a go. I don't suppose you could let me...?"

"Nope you can't." Charlton flashed a toothy smile. "If I'd just let you or anyone else shoot that gun for fun, the alliance bean counters would probably loose their minds." Goldstein opened his mouth to protest but the Chief continued before he could. "You see this rifle doesn't shave it's ammo off a block like regular guns. It fires custom made bullets and they're insanely expensive." He held up a magazine roughly the size of his thumb. "The twenty rounds in there probably cost more than your entire equipment."

"What the heck?" Right next to the two men Guzzman, just coincidentally passing by stopped as if she'd just hit a wall. "That seems to be a little excessive. Or is that thing really _that_ much better than a regular sniper rifle?"

"Well, let's just say the double-O-5 here packs a wee bit more punch than a normal gun." Charlton grinned wolfishly. "You want to make absolutely certain that whatever you shoot at is not going to get back up again. This baby is the weapon of choice."

"Okay." The medic drawled. "I'll leave you boys to it then, I guess." She shrugged and walked away. Guzzman really wasn't into guns. She hadn't joined the corps because of that. No, she wanted to study medicine at a later time and coming from a poor fringe world colony she'd figured serving in the alliance for a while was her best chance to get accepted at a decent university at some point. She smiled to herself and shook her head. Should the boys rave about their boomsticks, she'd gotten a handful of new toys in her own specialist field and she was very much looking forward to try them out.

Cyra let her marines have fun with the new gadgets for a bit longer then called them all together to give them a rough overview over what was planned in the next couple of days. What classes they were supposed to attend to, when training exercises were scheduled, things like that.

"Anyway." She finished, looking from soldier to soldier. "Go settle in properly. Take a walk around the base, take a rest, do whatever else your heart desires and report back here tomorrow morning 0700 base time. Any questions?"

"Well, if you don't mind me asking." Kelly spoke up after clearing her throat. "Where's Ken...Private Watanabe, Sir? Did he get transferred to another unit or something?"

"Oh sorry people, I forgot to tell you." Cyra was actually a little surprised this topic hadn't come up earlier. "No, the Private wasn't transferred. He's working with Intelligence for a few weeks. He'll be rejoining the squad after that."

Eyebrows rose in surprise and glances were being exchanged but to the Asari's relief there were no follow-up questions being asked. She really could do without having to tell the prepared bogus story the spooks had come up with.

"Anything else?" She waited for a few moments but no one seemed to have any other pressing issues at the moment. "Well then off with you lot. See you here tomorrow. Try not to have too much fun in the mean time, you get me?"

The maiden smiled at the loud response and watched the marines walk away. She briefly wondered how long it would take them to find the bar. The base was fairly large but still she didn't figure it was going to take more than a couple of minutes. Some soldiers seemed to have an internal compass reliably directing them to nearby watering holes. Cyra checked the time and suppressed a yawn. She'd probably take a quick nap. First however she had a call or two to make. She grinned. And a couple of pictures to take.

* * *

"Morning doc." The clinic cafeteria was chock-full and Alex didn't spot the marine right away. "Over here."

"Hey Mike." Alex sat down at the table, looking the other guy over briefly."I gotta say, I barely recognize you, wearing civvies."

"Feels kinda weird too." Mike grinned, tugging at the collar of his shirt. The day Cyra had been transferred to the new base, the scientist had paid another visit to the hospital for a lack of something else to do. Neither of them really knowing anyone on the citadel other than their girlfriends the men had begun to talk and the scientist had ended visiting the clinic again and again. Sometimes multiple times a day.

"So." The archaeologist asked as he tipped on the table's built in touchscreen to order something to drink. "You're finally getting out of here?"

"Yep." The marine took a sip from his coffee cup. "Just waiting for some paperwork and then I can bugger off. Of course..." He added with a reluctant grimace. "...I'll have to come back here in a few days for a check-up. And also the next week. And the week after that and so on and so forth."

"For how long?"

"Couple of months at least." Mike shuddered at the prospect. "It's apparently standard procedure when you've had this many cloned organs stuffed in you. Just to make certain that nothing is going wrong. Or so the doctors have been claiming anyway."

Before her could answer a floating, roughly ball shaped robot hovered over and without a comment placed a steaming cup in front of the scientist. Alex turned his head, looking at the departing metal contraption. "Nice waiters here." He commented with a dry smirk.

"Yeah well, this ain't a presidium cafe, doc." Mike pointed out.

"Obviously not." The archaeologist snickered. "Yeah I suppose they got more important things to use their budget on than live waiters."

"Cheers to that." The marine said, ironically raising his cup. As he took the last sip his eyes locked onto something behind Alex, his face lighting up instantly. "Ah, speaking of which. Looks like my paperwork is done."

"Hi doctor Gordon." Angela's voice came from behind as Mike rose from his seat.

"Ah, miss Vasvani." The scientist stood up as well. "The presence of such a magnificent, high-born lady brightens any man's day I must say."

"Be silent, peasant." The young woman tried to put on a stern face. "Or I'll have you flo..." The corners of her mouth pretty much immediately started to waver. "Or I'll...Oh bugger off!" Angela burst out laughing. "You and your bloody...ancient manners."

"Now now." Alex said, maintaining the facade for a bit longer. "That's no way for a well-bred lady to talk, my dear."

Angela made a fruitless attempt to get back in the character of an aristocratic woman. "Damn it, I can't." She giggled, her efforts only resulting in some fairly weird faces. She was just in too good a mood to be able to scowl right now. "Just snap out of it if you please, doctor."

"Aww. All right." The archaeologist seemed to be somewhat reluctant to drop the act. "Who am I do deny a lady?"

The young lady shook her head in amusement and raised herself on tiptoes to give Mike a quick kiss on the mouth. "I think the good doctor here missed his calling." She remarked. "He'd be a fine actor of some sort."

"Hey, yeah." Mike grinned impishly. "Now that you mention it. Maybe playing with one of those Shakespeare theatre troupes or something..."

"Yeah, I don't think so." Alex snickered. "I doubt I'd amount to anything more than court jester in that field of work." He made an exaggerated bow. "But thank you for your kind words, miss Vasvani."

"Please don't call me that, doctor." The young woman's smile became a little bit forced. "I hate that. Call me Angela okay?"

"Of course milady." The scientist bowed again. "And could I ask you most humbly to call me Alex in that case?"

Instead of an answer Angela turned to her boyfriend giving him a playful nudge towards the door. "Let's get out of here, Mike." She said in a hushed tone. "This is getting creepy."

"Of course, darling." The marine said gallantly as he snuck an arm around Angela's waist and pulled her a little closer. "Let me rescue you from the scary Doctor Doom and take you away to safety."

Alex stared at the couple for a second. "Could it get any more tacky?" He wondered aloud.

"Oh come on man." Mike protested grinning. "I'm doing the best I can here."

The three Humans briefly stared at one another before they started laughing loudly enough that a lot of heads in the cafeteria turned in their direction.

"Yeah I suppose we better go." Alex chuckled. "Or else we could get in trouble with the fun police for laughing in a hospital." He made a sweeping gesture towards the door. "After you."

"Thank you, Doctor Doom." Angela smirked, tucked her arm into Mike's and purposefully strode towards the door.

"Gee, am I glad to get out of here for now." The marine said as the clinic's main door opened up before him. "I mean, no offence honey but I prefer to see hospitals from the outside."

"Hey, I'm glad I'm only working here." The med student planted a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. As the doors closed after the small group with a hiss her gaze fell on the archaeologist who seemed to be brooding over something. "Something wrong, Alex?"

"Hm? Oh no, everything is peachy." The scientist waved his hand dismissively but something still seemed to bother him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I just..." He tilted his head to the side. "Doctor Doom?" He suddenly blurted out. "Seriously?"

* * *

Not too long thereafter the three Humans were relaxing on a bench by the presidium lake, each having an ice cream. "So what's next for you?" The archaeologist inquired as he made a futile attempt to scoop up a decent mouthful with the tiny plastic spoon. "The Alliance isn't simply going to ship you back to the front, I assume?"

"I'm not quite sure actually." Mike shrugged. "The Alliance probably don't know what do do with me either just yet."

"How do yo figure?"

"Talked to someone from command yesterday and she couldn't give me a real answer." Mike absently put a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth and let it melt on his tongue before he continued. "They can't send me back to my homies though. Not when I got to go back to the hospital for check-ups all the time."

"Does that bother you?"

"I'm not sad to, as you put it, not to get sent back to the front, doc." The marine smiled thinly. "But I kinda miss the squad. I mean you know..." He let the sentence hang in the air for a second and grimaced. "Anyway, they'll probably have me push papers in some office for the remainder of my time." He leaned towards Angela and ran his hand over her thigh. "But first, I got ten days worth of leave."

"Yes, you do." Angela perked up with a lustful smile on her face, momentarily forgetting that the two of them weren't alone. "And I sure as hell _do_ know what to do with you."

"You do huh?" Mike reached over pulled the med student closer.

For a moment Alex didn't quite know what to do as the couple went at it. Eventually he loudly cleared his throat fearing things may get out of hand otherwise.

"So umm...you got a place to stay?" The scientist asked as Mike and Angela were slowly cooling off, more to bridge the awkward silence than to gather information.

"What...?" Angela recovered her voice a little before her boyfriend did but with her breaths still coming hard she had to give it a moment longer before she could properly reply. "Mike will stay at my place in the wards." She eventually managed to utter. "It's nice and cosy. Perfect for...I mean err...Don't worry about it Alex."

Mike stared into the plastic ice cream tub. There was still quite a bit of ice cream left in it but he decided he didn't want to take the time to finish it. "Yeah speaking of which." He stood up walked a few steps and threw the tub into a trash bin. "I'd say we go home now. I think the surgeon said something about...taking it easy...I believe?"

"Oh yes definitely." Angela agreed quickly. "Yes, we should go and take it easy." She suddenly seemed to be in an awful hurry, putting her ice cream down on the bench beside her. "Sorry...Alex...We we really need to go...umm..."

"It's all right it's all right." The scientist grinned as the young woman stood up. "Have fun you two."

The scientist couldn't help but feel a little jealous as he watched the young couple scurry off after they'd excused themselves. As he ate the rest of his ice cream he wondered what Cyra was doing right now, a slight smile parting his lips as he thought of the pictures she'd sent him of herself. They were pretty racy to say the least. Still they of course couldn't replace his girlfriend's company in the slightest. At first he didn't realized that someone walked up to him as he stared out on the lake, wondering what he was going to do this evening.

"Hi there, handsome." A low and slightly husky female voice came from his right. "Mind if I sit here?"

As Alex looked up he found himself staring in the most fascinating eyes he'd ever seen.

* * *

That's it for the moment.

I found myself suffering from a lack of motivation to write occasionally.

I'll try to get following chapters up asap but I can't guarantee anything.

Take Care


	22. Chapter 22

Howdy Folks.

Yeah I don't have anything witty to say right now so without further ado. Here's the next chapter.

* * *

"Well?"

"I'm sorry what were you saying?" Alex's face flushed to a considerably darker shade as he pulled himself together.

"Mind if I sit here?" The Asari standing right next to him repeated patiently.

"Yeah sure." The scientist said only to immediately add a correction. "I mean no. I mean I don't mind."

Alex had to make a deliberate effort in order not to gape as the female sat down with a single, fluid motion. Were pretty much all Asaris attractive to the Human eye in some way, with this one it went far beyond that. The looks, her species natural grace, everything seemed to be turned up to eleven on this particular Asari. And these eyes! The archaeologist had never seen purple eyes before. They looked like polished gemstones and the scientist found it really hard to avert his gaze. Christ this woman was beautiful.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" The expensive looking dress rustled softy as the Asari leaned back, resting comfortably against the back of the bench.

"Well yes." Alex had to clear his throat before he could speak properly. "I mean, if it's the weather you're talking about, well, that's really always the same up here isn't it?"

"It kind of is." The Asari snickered softly. "I suppose I'll have to think about some new ice breakers when I'm around here in the presidium."

"Sounds like you're here regularly?" The scientist iquired. He didn't really know what to make of the situation just yet but he didn't want to be rude and let the female do all the talking.

"Every now and again." The Asari put one of her arms on the bench backrest. "Pretty decent hunting grounds up here."

The archaeologist's eyebrows shot up. "Hunting grounds?" He echoed. "What?"

"Oh come on." The alien beauty flashed a smile that made Alex' heart beat a considerably faster. "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

"Are you hitting on me or something?" The scientist inquired with what he hoped looked like nonchalant grin, attempting to defuse the somewhat awkward situation with humour. Unfortunately the Asari did seem to be entirely serious.

"Would you mind if I was?"

The Asari actually licked her lips, leaving Alex speechless for a second. "I'm kinda spoken for." He stated flatly.

"Yes, of course." Suddenly there was a humorous sparkle in her eyes that, the scientist was sure of it, hadn't been there before. "I know about your girlfriend."

"What?" The archaeologist blurted out incredulously.

"She's not here though, is she?" The Asari stated, disregarding the Human's brief outburst. "Fumbling around in some alliance base, shooting up helpless practice targets, I'd wager."

For the second time within the minute Alex briefly lost his tongue. "What the heck? How do you know that?" He snapped. "Are you spying...? Who the hell are you?"

To his surprise the Asari threw her head back and laughed loudly. When the beauty turned back to him the flirty attitude was gone completely. "Yeah I suppose I should remember my manners, hm?" She laughed putting out her hand. "Allow me. Shepard. Rhea Shepard. I understand we'll be flat mates for a while?"

"Holy C...!" It took the scientist a moment before he managed a weak chuckle. He felt a little silly that he hadn't considered the obvious, especially since he'd thought the Asari had something familiar about her. In a state of mild shock the scientist went through the motion of shaking Rhea's hand. "Uh sorry." The maiden's grip was surprisingly firm. "Gordon, Alex Gordon."

"Pleasure." Rhea smiled slyly.

"So umm..." The scientist said somewhat tentatively. For some reason the maiden's dazzling smile still made him a little nervous. "What was that? Why couldn't you just..."

"...Introduce myself like a civilized person, hm?" The young Asari finished the sentence in his place. "Sure, I could've done that but...Well, let's just say every now and again I like to do things the unconventional way." She grinned. "And I just thought it'd be interesting to see how you'd react."

"Got the heart rate going I can tell you that."

"I certainly hope so." Rhea snickered. "I'd be worried otherwise."

She arched her back slightly, making her bodily assets struggle against the fabric of the dress in a way that made Alex shift awkwardly. "Come on." He protested weakly. "Don't you think that's a little mean?"

"Mean?" The maiden gave him an innocent look. "Whatever do you mean, sir?"

"You know exactly what I mean!" The scientist protested.

"Maybe a little." Rhea admitted, assuming a much more relaxed posture. "But a girl wants to have some fun every now and then. Besides, most males don't seem to mind when I flirt with them a little or give them an eyeful or two."

"Well to be totally honest I didn't really mind either..."

"A-ha!" The maiden cut in impishly.

Alex couldn't help but chuckle at that, momentarily losing his train of thought. "...But most guys don't have a girlfriend who could hand them their butt on a plate." He exclaimed, his humour resurfacing.

"Yeah I suppose that's true." Rhea said light-heartedly. "Although I don't think my big sis is so fiercely jealous that she'd do something drastic if she saw you talking to another girl."

The scientist took his eyes off the maiden and looked at the artificial sky, deciding it was best to change the topic. He noisily cleared his throat. "So anyway, If you don't mind me asking: You're the model, right?"

There was an amused expression on Rhea's face as she eyed the archaeologist. "Are you trying to switch the subject by any chance?"

"Guilty." The scientist admitted. "But usually one doesn't answer a question with a question."

"Maybe I'm an unusual person." Alex smiled at the Asari's response. He was beginning to enjoy the conversation. "Maybe I think makes me appear smarter. Maybe I'm just crazy." The scientist opened his mouth to say something but Rhea gave him no opportunity to interject. "Or I suppose I could just can the shenanigans and answer hm?"

"Won't say no."

"I do quite a bit of modelling at the moment." The young Asari shrugged. "But I don't really consider myself a model."

"A simple yes or no would have done it too." The scientist remarked dryly. "You're not one for the simple answers are you?"

"That depends doctor." Rhea smirked. "Usually I'm actually a fairly simple girl."

"Now why can't I imagine that?" Alex wondered aloud. The maiden giggled softly, waiving an answer.

"Anyway, it's my turn in today's Q&amp;A session I believe." The Asari's purple eyes glittered humorously. "And I already know you're an Indiana Jones wannabe."

"My ass." The scientist muttered under his breath.

"So what could I ask instead?" Rhea said slowly, pretending to mull over it. "Your friends looked kind of interesting. Archaeologist buddies of yours?" There was a minute pause before she added: "You know, when they're not attempting to reproduce?"

Alex cocked his head to the side and gave the maiden a suspicious look. "Exactly how long did you watch us for?" He wanted to know.

"Oh hello." Rhea folded her arms in front of her chest. "Didn't someone claim one didn't answer a question with a question just a minute ago?"

"I guess so." Alex laughed and proceeded to explain who his Human friends were. The Asari maiden let out an impressed whistle when he got to Angela's background.

"A future council member's daughter?" She said. "You really do have some interesting friends."

"A _possible_ future council member." The scientist corrected. "Or whatever, I don't really follow politics to be honest."

Rhea's eyes narrowed a bit when Alex fell silent and stared at the ground in front of his feet for a while. "You two don't have problems together already do you?" She eventually inquired.

It took the scientist a moment to realize what she meant. " Come on, we only just met." He pointed out incredulously.

"Look if you don't want to talk about it just say so. " The maiden's tone of voice was jovial but her fascinating purple eyes became a little more piercing. "It's just, after your friends left and just now you looked as if you were brooding over something."

"Hm? Oh that?" Alex let out a brief laugh. "That had nothing to do with a meaningful quandary of any kind. I was just thinking about what to do with the rest of the day. You see right now the good people of the department of science, sub-section archaeology, don't really know what to do with me. So I have a lot of free time at the moment."

"Ah right." Rhea smiled. "Yes I believe Big C did say something about that when we talked the other day." The maiden paused, breathing the good, clean presidium air. "Well, I can tell you what I'm doing tonight." She said. "I'm going to order myself some obscenely expensive food from one of those robbers' caves they call restaurants up here. Then I'm going to fire up that top-of-the-line holoprojector, built into our apartment's living room and watch a couple of good vids."

"Really?" The scientist smirked. "You got no sophisticated cocktail-party with the rich and famous to be at?"

"No thank you." The grimace Rhea's beautiful face twisted to left little doubt what she thought of that. "I've had enough of those in the last couple of weeks." Her features relaxed again. "Anyway you're welcome to join me if you want."

"Umm, I'm not sure..."

"I assure you, despite my earlier fooling about, I don't have any hmm...untoward intentions." The maiden giggled. She found the scientist's hesitation highly amusing.

"Actually a relaxing evening at 'home' does sound quite nice." He said, despite the fact that he'd basically had nothing but 'relaxing evenings at home' the last week. "At least with interesting company it does."

"Hey thanks, doctor." Rhea grinned and jumped off the bench. "Let's go find ourselves some decent chow then, shall we?"

Alex found the maiden's energy to be somewhat contagious. It certainly helped lifting his spirits. "You know." He said as he hurried to catch up in order to spare himself the temptation to look at the Asari's shapely behind. "I think it's usually the guys who say that."

"Hm?"

"You know, the 'untoward intentions' bit."

"Ah right. Well, not when I'm around they're not." Rhea threw the scientist a wink. "Not when I'm around."

* * *

Contrary to what Rhea was assuming her older sister wasn't shooting at practice targets at the moment and neither did anyone else of her squad. Her marines had other problems at this time. They were being 'asked' to enter a detention cell right now.

"Now that was certainly a brilliant idea." Guzzman said sarcastically as the door slammed shut behind her. "Really smart seriously."

"What was I supposed to do?" Petrow defended himself as he sat down on one of the room's cots, pressing an ice pack against she side of his jaw. "Couldn't just let these knuckleheads talk dirty about the LT, could I?"

"As if Shepard would care what a couple of brain amputees have to say about her."

"That's not the point!" Petrow exclaimed. "You don't talk shit about anyone in _my_ squad and get away with it. Besides that one guy really did have bad breath."

"You know." McClane chimed in as she tilted her head back and tried to staunch the flow of blood coming out of her nose with a handkerchief. "You could have just offered him a peppermint or something." Unfortunately the pretty blonde had walked right into an elbow when she'd attempted to step in to settle the squabblers' dispute. Which then of course had been pretty much the go-ahead for a nasty brawl that'd demolished quite a bit of the base bar's furniture.

"A peppermint huh?" Johanson snickered gleefully. Despite being thrown into one of the base's detention cells along with the better part of her squad the Amazon seemed to be in very good spirits. "Not quite sure if that would have helped any but good thinking nonetheless."

McClane briefly checked the handkerchief and gave Kelly a sarcastic thumbs-up. At least the bleeding seemed to have stopped more or less. Unlike the taller woman Guzzman was a little sulky about being picked up by the MP and shoved in a cell as she walked over to her blonde squad mate to check her nose. In the meantime Johanson, Petrow and Goldstein began to exchange stories of the 'did-you-see-how-I-wrapped-that-chair-around-that-dude's-neck' variety.

"Nothing is broken." The medic said after gently palpating McClane's aching olfactory organ.

"Well that's one good news for today at least." The blonde smiled weakly.

"Nah there's plenty of good news." Johanson grinned. "For one we got to kick some ass today. And I think it's pretty safe to say we came out on top on this one."

"Of course we did." Guzzman snorted sarcastically. "The other guys are probably claiming the same in their cell right now."

"Hey, we were still standing..." The Amazon threw McClane a wink. "...Except for Jane that is."

"Ha-ha. Very funny." The blonde commented sourly.

"Hey don't worry about it, peppermint." Kelly snickered. "Trying to be a peacemaker is a noble goal. You just have to be a little more careful when there's lots of alcohol in play is all."

"I'll try to remember that." The pretty female marine grumbled. She hadn't even realized she'd been called 'peppermint'.

"Anyway as I was saying we were still standing when the dust settled and quite a few of _them_ weren't. So I'd say we can easily claim the victory on this one."

"You betcha." Petrow grinned from ear to ear. Guzzman seemed to be far less impressed though.

"I'm sure the LT is going to be very proud when she has to bust our sorry asses out of here." The medic said sarcastically.

"Come on, give it a rest." The Amazon put her hand on the smaller woman's shoulder and shook her gently. "Didn't I hear you complain about the lack of things to do on our off-hours earlier?"

"A bar fight wasn't exactly what I had in mind for variety." The medic sighed. But at least there was a hint of a smile dancing around the corners of her mouth.

* * *

"Well your people seem to be eager to make a good impression, don't they?" The Losone base commander alternated between eyeing the two Lieutenants who stood before him at attention and casually sifting through a bunch of personnel files on his data pad. "Usually new units take a little more time to adjust before they demolish the bar." The grey haired man with the steely, blue eyes rose from his chair and slowly walked around the lower ranked officers before he settled down on the edge of his desk, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Care to explain why _I _have to explain an unexpected, several thousand credits expense to the bean counters at high command?"

For a few seconds only the ticking of the old-fashioned mechanical clock could be heard in the room. Then the male Human Lieutenant beside Cyra figured he might as well try his luck first. "My men were attacked without provocation and naturally defended..."

"What!?" The Asari maiden cut in immediately, shaking her head in disbelief. "Without provocation!? That's not how in went and you know that perfectly well. I saw you talking to the Chief who runs the bar you..." She didn't finish the sentence because she didn't want to get abusive just yet.

"Your man threw the first punch!"

"No, yours did!" Cyra corrected vehemently. "When he almost broke Private McClain's nose after constantly mouthing off!"

"Vasquez didn't mean to do that." The Human Lieutenant protested. "Your Private pretty much walked into his elbow. It was an accident!"

"An accident? Oh really?" The maiden spat venomously. "Hey, why don't I break your nose right now huh? And then I'll claim you just walked into my fist."

"Come on." The Human naturally didn't back down. N7s weren't generally know to do that. "Come and have a..."

"Enough!" The base commander clamoured. "I did not call you in here to have a bloody shouting match! You're supposed to be the elite of the elite so you bloody well better act that way!" He waited for a moment before he continued in a much more moderate pitch. "You get me?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" The Lieutenants replied at the same time, casting angry glances at one another.

"So again, why is my bar in shambles?" The bickering between the two junior officers pretty much instantly resumed, each of them fiercely defending their squad. When they began to argue as to which side had come out on top the, the heated dispute beginning to get personal, commander realized he wasn't going to get anywhere this way.

"Enough already!" He snarled and, after making certain he had their attention, he strode towards the door with a curt 'follow me'. The short trip through the base's main building ended in front of an empty storage room. The commander quickly peeked inside to make sure there was no one in there, then turned to the Lieutenants.

"In there, both of you!" He ordered with a nod towards the door. "Get it out of your system! You have two minutes." He checked his watch. "Starting now."

The high ranking officer made sure the Lieutenants fully closed the door after them then took a post in front of it as the sounds of a decent scuffle began coming through the wall.

"Time's up!" He shouted a little while later and waited for the two N7s to come back out. "Now." He said calmly as the Lieutenants stood before him at attention once again, their uniforms looking somewhat dishevelled. "I'll let your people of the hook just this once. But you two better make sure that something like that doesn't happen again because if it does I'll hold you personally responsible. And trust me, you don't want that. Do I make myself understood?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" The N7s answered loudly.

"Good." The commander growled, stared at each of the junior officers for a moment, before walking away.

Cyra and her fellow Lieutenant exchanged a glance but remained otherwise motionless until the commander had disappeared around a corner.

Cyra's rival furtively looked around, checking whether the coast was clear. "You know Shepard." He then said after opening and closing his mouth a few times as if to make sure that everything was still in working order. "I could use a drink. How about you?"

Cyra had to actually take a look at the name tag on the other Lieutenant's uniform. For some reason his name had never come up and she hadn't bothered to check before. "Doesn't actually sound like a bad idea, Wilson" She replied and gently ran her fingertips over a fresh bruise on her thigh. "Although we should probably get our people out of detention first."

The two N7s exchanged another look. "Nah. I'd say the kids can stay in lock-up for a bit longer." Wilson grinned. "Gives them a little more time to think about their misdeeds."

"Yeah sure." The maiden snickered. "Although I'm not sure they're actually doing that. Seems much more likely that they're raving about their heroics." The maiden couldn't resist to fire a little jibe towards the other officer. "Well, my guys anyway."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well your guys got the floor wiped with them, that's what I mean of course."

"Not they didn't." Wilson disagreed vigorously and before long the squabbling resumed, albeit much more light heartedly than before. "You know." Wilson eventually remarked after they'd argued all the way to the bar. "Maybe we should agree to a draw before we demolish this place again?"

Cyra's eyes narrowed as she pretended to contemplate. "All right fine." She agreed with an roguish grin. "A draw it is...for now."

* * *

"No, doctor, I'm not going to talk about my creators." Charlie said. More than one of the scientists in the sterile room thought he'd heard a hint of annoyance in the AI''s artificial voice. "To explain exactly why would require me to reveal more about _them_ than I'm willing to. It would be more than _they_ deserve and that's going to be the last I'll ever say on the matter. So kindly stop asking the same question. Thank you."

Researchers sitting and standing around the laboratory in small groups, quietly began chatting amongst one another as Charlie fell silent. A few other inquiries were made but the AI didn't reveal anything useful at this point. All the scientists could do was to gather around the readouts of the scanners, trying to make what little sense they could of the very limited data. After a while most of them retreated out of the room. Some went to their own offices to keep working on the data, some went to lunch a little early this day. Eventually only doctor Halsey and Professor Cordalis remained in the lab but, when it became clear that Charlie wasn't going to release any useful information at this time they too decided to get something to eat and try again in the afternoon.

"Is something wrong?" Halsey eyed her colleague as they were slowly walking through the mostly empty hallways. The professor seemed to be brooding over something.

"Oh, I don't know." The female researcher was taken aback by the waspish reply. "What could be wrong? Maybe our total lack of progress? Could that be it?"

"We've only been working on the AI for a couple of weeks." Halsey pointed out sensibly. "Surely you didn't expect any major breakthrough this soon?"

"I didn't expect anything earth-shattering no." The professor snapped. "That's not the problem. The problem is that there has been _no_ progress! We know exactly the same amount about this...this Charlie as we did when we got here. Which is to say: Nada! Nothing! Zip!"

"You of all people should know that you can't rush academic research." Halsey protested. "You didn't think we could just waltz into the lab, snip our finger and suddenly we know everything that there is to know about our artificial friend, did you? Just give it some time. Sooner or later..."

"We don't have time!" The senior scientist shouted in agitation, surprising the doctor quite a bit. She hadn't quite realized under what kind of pressure the professor was. "In case you've forgotten, what we're doing here isn't exactly legal and the longer it takes to come up with results the bigger the chance that someone is going to get suspicious and comes nosing around."

"Well yes." Halsey said slowly as, for the first time, she really thought about the position her thirst of knowledge had gotten her into. "But we've got a pretty decent cover here don't we? We've got an entire section dedicated to harmless research, we have good cover stories for what we're doing here and our security seems to be fairly good as well. At least as far as I can tell. And should someone really get too close we can just disconnect the mobile unit, take it somewhere else for a while and no one will be any the wiser."

"I suppose we could indeed." Cordalis grudgingly had to admit. "But I'd still fell much better if we'd made some progress sooner rather than later."

"Look, if you got any ideas as to how to move things along more quickly I'm all ears."

The researcher's chat was interrupted when they reached the facility's refectory. After picking up their lunch from the rich buffet they took a seat at a table, taking care not to get too close to any of the staff of the low security sections. Most of them only just arrived at the brand new facility and had most like no clue as to what was happening in the restricted part of the building. Some of them were probably wondering what the heavy outside security was all about but usually people didn't ask too many questions when they got a well paid job at a very well equipped facility.

"We need a way to make this Charlie more cooperative." Cordalis muttered under his breath, picking up the conversation again.

"Yes that would be nice." Halsey agreed with a grimace. "Sometimes it seems like that bloody thing is just laughing at me. But how do you plan on doing that exactly? It's not like we have much in the way of leverage, do we?"

"There is the girl." Cordalis said grimly. "Maybe if we make her life a little less comfortable..."

The sentence hung heavily in the air between them for a moment.

"I...I'm not sure that's such a good idea." The female scientist then said slowly, shifting uneasily on her chair. The kidnapped young woman, imprisoned in the facility was the one part of this venture she had feelings of guilt about. "We have no idea what the AI is going to do if we start messing with her. It might very well be that it's just going to cease what little cooperation we get at this point."

"Which is next to nothing anyway." The senior researcher growled.

"It's _better_ than nothing." Halsey pointed out quickly. "Please give us some more time to come up with something before you do something drastic. It's not as if we got council agents knocking at our door."

"I wasn't planning on doing anything drastic." Professor Cordalis grumbled, poking at his food. "But fine you keep trying to get somewhere with the AI the conventional way. In the meantime I'll try to come up with alternatives."

"Thank you." Halsey said and began munching on her salad. She was about half way done with her plate when she had something of an epiphany.

"What's up?" Cordalis wondered when his female colleague suddenly jumped up and ran off as if stung by and adder.

"Just had an idea." Halsey shouted through the room, almost at the door already. "Just want to try something."

For a second the senior scientist simply stared at the ordinary door. Then he shrugged and went back to his food.

* * *

At the same time the door to Lien's cell opened as a member of security came to let her out for her daily walk. The young woman smiled inwardly. "Hi Jim." She said. "You drew the short straw once again, hm?"

"On the contrary." The guard grinned. "My lucky number came up."

"I see." It wasn't that Lien was surprised to see this particular young man picking her up. With a few exceptions it had always been him talking her for a stroll. "Well let's go then, shall we?"

"After you ma'am." He said with a sweeping gesture, making Lien giggle softly. She liked this guard. He was brash, quick-tempered and, judging by the way he talked, probably hadn't spent too much time in a classroom. But having his heart at the right place and a good sense of humour his regular company was making a bad situation a little more bearable to the girl. Oh yes, Lien mused as she slowly made her way through the corridors, she really did like Jim. It didn't make what she was planning any easier but that couldn't be helped at this point.

Following the pretty girl through the grey hallways Jim was dwelling on his own thoughts. The young man was having more and more problems with his conscience. What was being done to Lien was really an outrage, no matter how much the scientists in the know or his colleagues tried to play it down and the fact that he had any part of it made him sick to the stomach. The worst thing about this was that he had absolutely no idea what he could do about it. He'd tried to think of ways to help Lien escape but really what could he do? Even getting her out the building was be pretty much impossible as far as he could tell and that was the easier part. Because after that they'd have to deal with the outside security.

Jim certainly wasn't a coward but the guys patrolling the perimeter fence scared the shit out of him. Unlike the people responsible for the indoor security, they were some sort of hard boiled, no-nonsense mercenaries. Highly trained and, if what was whispered among the regular personnel had any truth to it, absolutely ruthless. He really had no desire to tangle with these kinds of guys, especially since they were fully armed and didn't just carry a bloody tranq-dart pistol like he did.

Furthermore, even if he were able to get her past all this security...where would they go? He simply didn't have the money to buy one, let alone two seats on one of the few passenger ships leaving the planet. He'd also thought about reporting the crime but to whom? Like many locals he had a deep mistrust of planetary police force. Too many rumours of corruption and other misdeeds were told amongst the regular folk for that. To whom else could he go? The citadel authorities? The Alliance?

He didn't exactly trust those either and even if he did...Wouldn't they just throw him in jail as well?

He just couldn't find a solution to this mess and that made him mad and sad at the same time.

While Jim was brooding over the situation the short walk ended at the same place it always did. A circular room maybe twenty meters in diameter under a transparent cupola, filled with all kinds of exotic plants. Several times Lien had inquired what purpose this room served but she never got a definitive answer. Most people she'd asked just assumed it was there for recreational purposes. Whatever the case, the young woman found the atmosphere in here to be very relaxing. It certainly did help her forget the situation she was in for a while. Or at least usually it did. Today she had other things on her mind than to sniff exotic flowers.

"Is something wrong?" Lien asked her reluctant prefect as she sat down on one of the benches from which one had a pretty nice view of the countryside outside the building. Not that there was much to see. This planet was fairly arid and cold and there weren't too many indigent plants growing in this climate, the predominant one looking like long, pale green grass. Still it was nice to see that there was a world outside this building's damned rooms and corridors. "You don't look too good."

"No I'm fine." Jim knew he probably didn't sound all that convincing but he tried anyway. "I'm just a little tired is all. I...I haven't slept all that well lately."

"I see." The young woman said slowly. "Problems with you girlfriend?"

"What?" Jim vigorously shook his head. "Nono. I don't have...I mean..." The guard stammered, inwardly wondering why he was so flustered right now. He usually didn't have any trouble talking to women. Of course the quiet, sophisticated archaeology student was nothing like the backwater broads he was used to. Nevertheless it was kinda weird. "Nah I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"I see." Lien said again. Hoping that her face didn't show how nervous she was the girl patted on the bench beside her. "Why don't you sit down and tell me about it?"

A solitary alarm bell began ringing in Jim's head. "Umm...I don't think so." He replied hesitantly. "My supervisor would lose his mind if I..." The young man interrupted himself before he made the faux pas of finishing the sentence with 'got too close to you'.

"I don't see your supervisor anywhere." Lien smiled, trying to ignore her wildly beating heart. "I'm certainly not planning to tell on you."

"I don't know..." Jim absently bit his lower lip. "I...oh what the hell..." The guard finally sat down. His supervisor and all the guys making fun of him could go and screw themselves if they didn't like it. Several additional alarm bells started blaring in his head as the girl took his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Do you mind?"

"Well no but..." The young man didn't quite know what to say. "I mean...goddamnit! I'm basically your jailer!"

Outwardly Lien was unruffled by the brief outburst. On the inside she was much less calm. Nevertheless the young woman gathered up all her courage and leaned over, planting a kiss on the guard's cheek. "You know you're maybe the one thing here that keeps me from going crazy?"

Jim was too flabbergasted to reply as his cheek was still tickling from her lips. Still stunned he didn't offer any resistance as the girl put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. For a second he enjoyed the kiss but something felt wrong about it. Something felt awfully... "Ouch!"

Lien instantly leaped off the bench and out of his reach as he stared at the small tranquilliser dart sticking in his side in disbelief. "Sorry Jim." The young woman said, pointing his gun at him. "But if our positions were reversed you'd do the same thing."

She backed off slightly as he groggily struggled to his feet, the narcotic agent already taking effect. Several times he opened and closed his mouth, an expression of pure shock on his face. Lien dropped the tranq pistol jumped forward as his eyes rolled back in their sockets. Jim was much heavier than she was but she was at least able to keep him from hitting the floor too hard. Twice she had to wipe the moistness from her eyes as she got the young man into a lateral recumbent position just like she'd learned in a first aid course a while ago. Why on earth did she feel so bad about this?

After she was done Lien took a few moments to gather up her senses. Then she picked up the tranq gun and ran out the room. She knew the way to the laboratory and it fortunately wasn't far. However the young woman knew that there were cameras installed in all the corridors on the way. She could only hope that the security personnel on duty in the main control room didn't watch the feed too closely.

Lien got an awful scare when she almost ran into one of the scientists who were usually working in the lab. What was the woman's name again? Halsey? Whatever the case the female researcher seemed to be on the way to back to her workstation. It was actually precisely what she needed Lien realized after she'd recovered from the scare and she began following the scientist as silently as she could.

"Where's your colleague?" Lien caught her0 breath when she heard Halsey speak up upon reaching the labs outer door.

"Umm..." The guard's reply came somewhat tentatively. "He just had to visit the men's room, ma'am."

"You know you're supposed to call for another guard in those cases, right?" The female researcher said as Lien carefully glanced around the corner. "There's supposed to be two of you here at all times."

"Yes, ma'am." The man replied. "But he'll only be gone for a minute. He just had to take a leak."

"Fine." Halsey snarled. "For this time. But from now on you will _always_ call for backup in such a case, even if whatever you have to do takes only a minute. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

After giving the guard one more sharp look she put her hand into the DNA scanner mounted right next to the door. As the security system was working to confirm the doctor's identity Lien raised the tranq pistol and pointed it at the guard who was making naughty faces in Halsey's back instead of looking her way. The young woman was far from an expert in firearms but the guard was only about ten meters away and almost impossible to miss. He yelped from the sharp pain as the stun dart's small needle entered his upper arm pretty much at the same time the automatic door slid open.

"Hey." He exclaimed, reaching for his own gun as he saw Lien sprinting towards the door. Having no further use for the pistol the girl threw it at the guard. He ducked out of the way of the improvised missile, staggering awkwardly as he began to feel the effect of the drug running through his veins.

"What the heck..?" Halsey demanded as Lien jumped through the door just before it closed. Unable to slow down quickly enough the archaeology student ran right into the other woman and they both went down in a tangle of arms and legs with Lien on top. "What do you think you're doing!" The scientist coughed as Lien hectically looked around. The outer door was now closed and she knew that the guards had no access to the lab. So the guy out there, desperately trying to stay on his feet or his colleague weren't going to be a problem for a while. However the inner door wasn't open yet. There was another DNA scanner in here, waiting to get activated.

"Open the door!" Lien hissed at the doctor.

"What!? No way. I..." Halsey interrupted herself then started to call for security. Uselessly of course. Everything around the lab was soundproof, including the doors but at the moment the scientist didn't think of that.

All the fear and frustration the young woman had had to endure ever since she'd gotten kidnapped suddenly came to Lien's mind and made her snap momentarily. "Open! The! Fucking! Door!" She screamed, maltreating Halsey's face with her small fists after each word. "Shit!" She breathed after she came to her senses again, realising she'd beaten the other woman senseless and the scientist's arm didn't reach up to the scanner. Desperation gave the girl strength however and she managed to lift the doctor's body far enough that she could shove her hand into the scanner, completely oblivious to the guard pounding against the outer door behind her.

"Lien?" Charlie's voice greeted her as soon as the inner door opened. "What are you doing here?"

"Just a moment." The young woman growled as she hauled the unconscious scientist out of the small booth between the doors. Next she ran over to the AI's mobile home and disconnected Charlie from the limited lab net, the AI watching in silence. Breathing heavily she dragged the fairly heavy box over to the plug for the full base net. Outside the lab the guard, just back from the toilet, took the communicator out of his utility belt and began to speak agitatedly. Lien didn't pay him any mind as she flipped up the outlet's plastic cover and plugged the AI into the base net.

"Thank you, Lien." Charlie said softly as the young woman, felling utterly exhausted, leaned against the wall and slowly let herself slide down to the floor. "Thank you."

* * *

There we go.

Hope you don't mind the cliffhanger too much ;)

Take care.


	23. Chapter 23

Howdy folks.

Apologies for the delay but...Well I caught myself the flu and was pretty much out for a week and on top of that I didn't really like the first draft of this chapter so I went back and pretty much wrote it all over again.

Hope you're going to like it nonetheless.

* * *

"Frank?" One of the guards on duty in the science complex' security centre furrowed his brow as he tried to call his buddy back. His fellow guard's transmission had stopped mid word. "Frank, come in." He turned to the other guy in the room. "Did you get what he was talking about?"

"Something about unlocking the main lab." The first guard nodded at that. This much he'd understood as well. "Didn't really get the second part. Something about a girl I think?"

The guards checked the camera feeds to try and find out what the problem was. "What is he waffling on about?" One of them wondered aloud. There was nothing unusual whatsoever to see on the video from outside the main lab. Just two members of the security force standing on either side of the door, chatting with one another from time to time.

"Bah, Frank's probably trying to be funny or something." The other growled, shaking his head in annoyance.

"Yeah, probably. Ol' Franky thinks he's clever once again huh? Dumbass."

The guards decided to ignore what they perceived as shenanigans and went back to their duties. Which basically meant that they split their time evenly between actually checking the building's systems and security feeds and reading a book or playing a game on their personal machines. They both flinched when, without warning, a flurry of pounding erupted on the door of the room about ten minutes later.

"What the fuck are you assholes doing in there!?" Frank shouted through the wall. "You think you're funny locking all the doors or something!? We got a goddamn situation in the lab! Sound the fucking alarm, will ya? And open the fucking door!"

"But we didn't..." The guards inside looked at one another uncomprehendingly. When Frank started pounding against the door again, one of them began typing on the holographic controls. "What the heck...?" He muttered when the door remained shut no matter how many times he told it to open. He waved his colleague over. "The door seems to be stuck or something. Take a look at this, Jack."

"Use the fucking manual override you dipshits!" Came through the wall, followed by an other handful of obscenities. "That's what it's fucking there for!"

The guards inside exchanged another look then Jack moved over to the door, opened a maintenance flap on its right side and began rhythmically moving the small handle inside up and down. Frank, who looked like he was about to pop a vein in his forehead, crawled inside as soon as the door had opened far enough.

"Finally!" He hissed at his fellow guards. "Why the hell didn't you sound the alarm!?"

"What the heck would we sound the alarm for?" Jack's tone of voice wasn't the least bit more pleasant. He didn't take kindly to being shouted at by someone who wasn't his superior. "Because a couple of doors are stuck? Are you crazy? Besides we didn't even know anything about that until just now."

"Are you fucking blind or what!?" Frank demanded heatedly. "Can't you see...?" He interrupted himself as he noticed a nice, high quality video of himself lolling about outside the main lab. "What the..." He mumbled. His amazement reached an even higher level when his gaze happened to brush over the large parabolic antenna outside. "Hey, where's the dish pointing at?"

For a few seconds neither of the men said anything. "We'd better get the professor up here." One of them eventually said.

"Good idea."

* * *

The three guards of course had no way to know that no matter what they did at this point it really wasn't going to make much of a difference. The damage was pretty much done. The building's main computer system was actually very well protected against unwanted intrusion, featuring top of the line hard- and software. After all the people running the place didn't want any hacker, or worse citadel agents, to snoop around the system.

Charlie however burned through all of it in mere milliseconds. For a few moments the ancient AI didn't anything other than to enjoy the moment. It had been so long since he'd had access to a proper network that, had he been Human, he'd probably jumped for joy. Sadly he didn't have time to indulge and just and relish the wonderful data streams coming through the fibre cable. He could see on the building blueprints that every major system had manual overrides installed. A precaution against exactly what was happening now no doubt. Thus sooner or later someone would come in here and disconnect him again.

So Charlie got busy. First he of course disabled the comm system, then when he saw the guard at the door rush off he locked a couple of doors to slow him down. However he didn't do anything more than he absolutely had to. He didn't want to warn anybody not directly involved that there was something unusual going on. It didn't really matter. At this point it was highly unlikely that anybody would be able to do anything about what he was going to do but the AI figured it was better to be safe than to be sorry.

Within the blink of an eye, Charlie wrote millions and millions of lines of code, developing programs so complex that an even another AI would have serious difficulties understanding them in all their intricacies. He ran a couple of tests because he wanted to make absolutely positively certain that he hadn't made a mistake then he sent them their way. _'Off you go little friends.' _He thought with the equivalent of a smile. _'Have fun out there.' _

His programs had cleared the local communication satellite and were free to roam through the extranet before the guard had even reached the first door on the way to security central. The AI briefly wondered how long it was going to take before they were in every single system in the galaxy. Probably less than a standard day. Charlie shrugged it off. It didn't really matter. And he wasn't quite done yet. There was one more thing to do. Taking control of the main communicatons antenna he pointed the dish at a different satellite and made it scan a certain part of the sky. The AI just needed to know that he hadn't imagined things earlier. Charlie got terribly excited when it turned out he hadn't. There it was, clear as daylight, the signal he'd hoped to find. The question was: What was he going to do now?

* * *

In a darkened room, several thousands of light-years away things were about to get more interesting than they had been in a while.

"What the..." A somewhat nerdy looking girl with short, garish pink hair blurted out. "Okay which one of you jokers messed with my console?" No reaction. The young woman turned away from her workstation and looked around the room. "Hey!"

When the other electronic warfare specialists, the Alliance's euphemism for the bunch of convicted hackers and misfits gathered in this room, still didn't react she went over to the nearest of her colleagues and peeked over the boy's shoulder, wondering what was so fascinating. To her surprise he seemed to have the exact same problem she'd had. The entire screen was cluttered with multiple different windows showing all kinds of information. Blueprints, personnel files, coordinates and all kinds of other stuff the pink haired girl didn't really know what to make of. Apparently it was possible to switch between the windows but otherwise the computer controls seemed to be frozen completely.

She went over to the next of her fellows, wanting to see what was going on on his screen. "What the heck?" She muttered and went over to the next workstation. And the next. And the next. They all showed the same things. Somewhat baffled that no one seemed to have the slightest clue as to what was going on she went over to the next room.

"Hey, soldier boy." She called the chamber's only occupant. "What's up?" The young woman frowned when he didn't react. She wasn't used to being ignored. Being sneered at sure. Seeing bourgeois shake their heads when she walked by, of course. Those things she could handle no problem, but not being turned a blind eye on. "Hey!" She said a bit more forcefully and finally he looked her way.

"Huh? What's up...?" Kenji drawled, barely taking his eyes off the screen before him. "...I'm sorry what was your name again?"

"You can call me Kiye." The young woman said flatly.

"Kiye?" The marine finally turned around to look at the pink haired girl. "That's an unusual name."

"It's not my given name." Kiye snarled, her face screwing up with disgust. "And anyone who used the name my wonderful parents gave me found his mail accounts overflowing with all kinds of rubbish so don't even ask."

"Okaaay." Keni couldn't help but grin at that. "I guess I won't then."

"Wise choice, soldier boy."

"Would you stop calling me that?" Kenji said frowning at the sneer that same with the last of Kiye's words.

"Sorry." Not a trace of remorse in the girl's voice. "I'm not a fan of the military."

"That's funny." Kenji gestured at the walls with an ironic smile. "I kinda thought this here was a military installation."

"It's better than rotting in a jail cell." Kiye stated and her face reddened slightly. "Besides one has to admit: they do have a lot of really cool toys around here."

"Ain't that right." As the marine slowly had the chair spin around and focused on the screen once more, the young woman remembered why she'd come in here in the first place.

"Anyway have you any idea what's up with our system right now?" Kiye wanted to know.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do." Kenji drawled as he casually switched from one window to the next, somewhat perplexed because of the sheer amount of information on display.

"And?"

Before the marine could answer one of Kiye's room mates stuck his head through the door. "Hey Kiye, the stations in the next room work normally. The boss says we can just use those for the time being."

"Yeah sure." The girl grumbled with an indignant gesture. She was more interested in what the Kenji knew about the weird bug in the system than going back to work right now. "Hey, where are you going?" She demanded when the marine got up and headed for the door.

"Gotta talk to the Admiral." Was his only reply before he rushed out of the room.

"What the hell for?" Kiye yelled after him. "What's with the secrecy?" No answer. With a growled 'what the heck is going on' she went after him only to find that he was already gone. More than a little irritated she went back to her workstation and began to go through the mass of information, trying to figure out what the deal with this stuff was.

Practically running it still took Kenji a good ten minutes to get to Admiral Moreau's office. Station security wasted some more time because they wouldn't let him see the high ranking officer right away. The Admiral didn't say much when the Marine had finally got through to him. Joker just listened for a while as the younger man explained. After Kenji had said everything that there was to say the Admiral sent him back to his quarters with the orders to pack his bags and get ready to move out. Next Joker called a handful of officers into his office. It was time to get things going.

* * *

Rose tried not to let it show that she was still quite sore as she got out of the skycar. Well, the bandages were gone, that was at least something. The doctor had told her to take it easy and not to put unnecessary strain on her ankle or her wrist. The redhead smiled faintly. Hannah had gotten her a brand new pair of hover skates the other day but she didn't plan to give those another go until she fully recovered. She _was_ looking forward to giving them another go.

"Everything okay, Rose?" Ashley's father wanted to know from the other side of the car. If anyone had told her at any point that Commander Shepard, _the _Commander Shepard was going to play the chauffeur for little her, Rose would have had him committed to the nearest bedlam for sure.

"Yes I'm fine." The young woman replied timidly. Although she'd been living with the Shepards for a while now she still felt rather awkward around the old war hero. "Thank you, Sir."

"Oh for heaven's sake, young lady. Stop calling me Sir." The former spectre exclaimed. "Seriously sometimes you sound like David Copperfield."

"Who?" Rose blinked uncomprehendingly.

"You know from the novel? Charles Dickens? No? What on Earth do they teach you in school these days?" He asked with a good-natured growl. "Anyway, call me Marcus okay?"

"But...but...I can't just..."

"Rubbish! Of course you can!" Shepard said firmly. "Come on, just use ma name, will ya? I've been called 'Sir' all the time for the better part of my life. Believe me, it gets old _really _fast."

"Okay errr...Marcus."

"See? You can do it." The old man grinned as he slammed the car door shut. The floating vehicle slowly slid away and automatically set down on the appropriate parking slot. "You know, Ashley should be back from the city by now. How about you go and see how she's doing?"

"Aye aye Sir." Rose almost managed to keep a straight face.

"Oh shoo." Shepard laughed and walked away.

Rose briefly thought about where she'd most likely find her girlfriend if she'd indeed gotten back from the city. Probably in her room.

"Hey Rose quartz!" Hannah basically jumped her as soon a she entered the Shepard mansion. "Saw you coming back. Bandages are gone I see."

"Yeah I'm fine, thank you." The redhead said with a bit of a tongue-in-cheek tone of voice. "Hello to you too by the way."

"Oh hi." The maiden grinned. "Say listen, you know your way around computers, right?"

"Umm...yeah...kinda." Rose replied slowly, wondering where this was going. "I'm studying VI design and programming so..."

"Swell!" Hannah commented. "Ye see something's wrong with our system. Would you mind taking a look at it? Maybe you can do something about it."

"Something wrong?" The Human gird echoed. "Like what exactly?"

"Dunno." Hannah shrugged. "I was just talking to a friend of mine when the system suddenly froze and the screen filled up with all kinds of information windows. Can't close them, can't do anything other than looking at the stuff. I mean, shit it wouldn't even let me switch off the machine."

The ginger's eyebrows immediately journeyed upwards. "That sounds weird." She drawled. "Kinda like a virus. You've been roving about on any salacious extanet sites or something?"

"Not today, no." Hannah guffawed, winking at the Human. "And the tosh displayed isn't of that variety either. Seems to be fairly normal stuff from what I've seen so far."

"Hmm." Rose got curious. "All right I'll take a look."

"Goody!" The redhead had barely finished the sentence when Hannah grabbed her by the healthy wrist and pulled her along. "Let's go."

"Hey take it easy!" Rose protested, fighting in order to not lose her balance. "I'm still a little banged-up, all right?"

"Oh sorry." The maiden slowed down. "Didn't mean to..."

"It's fine, It's fine." Rose said quickly. "My ankle is just a little sore still, so don't make me run if you please."

"Of course, of course. Sorry again."

"Anyway, have you any idea where Ash is?" Rose asked as they moved through the mansion at a much more moderate pace. "She came back from the city already?"

"Yep she's chilling out on the back lawn." Hannah made a vague gesture towards the rear of the house. "She looked a wee bit gloomy so I didn't wanna bother her with my little computer hitch."

"I see." The redhead sighed. She just hoped the computer problems didn't take too long to solve. She needed to check on her lover.

"Here we are." Hannah said a moment later, pointing at the convoluted mass of windows on the holographic screen.

"Well that doesn't look good." Rose observed dryly as she sat down at the console. For a few moment she changed from window to window at random, just to check whether the basic controls were still working. Her eyes widened when she noticed an unexpected, familiar face. Much to Hannah's surprise the redhead practically lunged off the chair and headed for the door as fast as her ankle would allow. She headed towards the back exit shouting like a woman possessed, making everyone else in the house wonder what the fuss was about. "Ash? Hey Ash! Get in here quick! You need to see this!"

* * *

"I don't know, professor." The main server room was packed full with scientists, fussing over all the available computer consoles. "I don't know what to tell you. If our artificial friend left anything behind in the system, I couldn't find it so far. Everything is working perfectly."

"You can bet he did." Cordalis growled, his eyes fixed on the monitor in front of him. "He wouldn't let an opportunity like that slip. He did tamper with our system in some way, even if for no other reason than to screw with us."

"Maybe but as I said I couldn't find anything so far." All the other scientist could do was shrug helplessly. "There's no record for the time the AI was plugged in so I couldn't even speculate what it's done."

"No record at all?" Another researcher wonderer aloud. "That shouldn't even be possible."

"It shouldn't indeed." Cordalis scowled angrily at the speaker. "This bloody AI seems to know a thing or two about our computers we don't." He took a deep breath and forced himself to cool off. "One thing we do know is that he redirected the main antenna. Any idea where he pointed it at?"

"Ah yes." The scientist in charge of digging through the system leaned back in his chair. "The only thing in the direction the dish was pointing to is a space-borne radio telescope. I called the company it belongs to and they said they'd lost the data feed for about a minute."

"Let me guess." Cordalis frowned. "No record as to what happened?"

"Yep. They figure it was just a random bug in the system. They want to send a team out to get to the bottom of it."

"Good luck with that." The lead scientist snorted. He contemplated the situation for a moment then walked out the door. "Keep checking the system." He ordered. "In the meantime I'll see if I can get some information out of the AI."

For a moment no one said anything. It was only after the door had closed behind Cordalis that somebody spoke up. "Good luck with that."

* * *

"All clear." Goldstein said softly and gave the rest of the squad the signal to move up and take their positions. It was getting almost boring. They'd practised in these empty buildings so many times the Private was sure he could find his way around here in his sleep. He certainly was getting tired of shooting at holographic practice targets, popping up out of nowhere all the time. They needed a change of...

"Abort exercise." Every single one of the Marines flinched when their Lieutenant's voice suddenly and loudly came out of their ear pieces. "Repeat abort. All personnel assemble in the briefing room immediately. Let's move it Marines."

The soldiers lowered their rifles and exchanged glances before they started to jog back out the building the same way they'd come in. "Was there something wrong with the exercise?" Johanson wondered aloud as the squad moved across the square, separating the urban combat training ground from the rest of the base.

"I thought we did all right." Everyone around seemed to be just as clueless as to why the exercise had been aborted as the Amazon was. "Ah well." Goldstein shrugged. "I s'pose we'll know soon enough."

"Yeah, guess so."

The marines didn't need to wonder much longer for as they entered the briefing room, it quickly became apparent that the abort had nothing to do with their performance.

"All right everybody." Their Asari Lieutenant began after her people had gathered up around her. "Go pack your gear and get ready to move out then get some rack time. We'll have a ship pick us up most likely tomorrow morning and I want everyone to be as well rested as possible." Cyra paused and flashed a smirk. "So do me a favour: no more of your special visits to the bar, okay?" Low chuckling rippled through the squad. "Anyway I'll have more information for you once we're on the ship. Now off with you lot...I mean dismissed."

There was some more chuckling but there were also quite a few uneasy glances being exchanged as the marines sauntered out of the building and towards the barracks. One question answered, a thousand to go.

* * *

"What do you mean 'what have I done'?" Charlie's favourite holographic figure, the archaeologist with the wide-brimmed hat and the whip, rubbed the back of his head. "Obviously I disabled your communication system for a while...I locked a few doors...I had some fun, playing around with your satellite dish...What makes you think I would have done anything other than that, professor?"

"You don't really expect me to believe that that's all you did, do you?"

"No I don't." The hologram grinned waggishly. "But just because you don't believe what I'm saying doesn't mean it's not true." Cordalis' face reddened and he drew breath for a counterblast but the AI continued before he could. "Anyway I obviously didn't try to bring down your civilization by blowing up all your computers or anything so that's at least something, right? You can safely mollify your colleagues, gathered up in the main server room. Doomsday has been averted for now."

"How do you know about that?" The scientist demanded, realizing pretty much the moment he said it that it was a stupid question.

"Where the hell else would they be?" Charlie's response naturally came like a shot. "You people certainly are curious enough. And paranoid enough whenever I come into play."

Cordalis looked at the projected archaeologist through half closed eyes for a moment. "This is all just a joke to you isn't it?" He growled.

The hologram seemed to ponder over that. "No, not really." Charlie said eventually. "But back to your original question: I'd simply suggest that you'd take it easy. Whatever I have or haven't done..." The hologram's smile shifted to the more ambiguous sort. "If it concerns you you'll know soon enough."

Cordalis made a few additional attempts to elicit information from the AI but in the end he had to grudgingly recognize that he wasn't going to get anywhere at this time. No matter what he tried, Charlie would simply state that, since the scientists around had no way to verify his assertions at this point, he could just tell them whatever the hell he wanted and no amount of coaxing, no threats or anything else was going to change that.

Eventually Cordalis came to the conclusion that he'd best go back to his room and think about the situation some more before he made himself look a fool. His gaze fell on Lien who'd been sitting motionlessly in the corner ever since she'd plugged in Charlie. With a barked 'get her out of here' the professor stormed out the room.

The two guards in the lab looked at one another awkwardly, then at doctor Halsey who'd been lurking around in the back of the room during the whole scene.

"You heard the professor. Get the young lady back to her room." The doctor said sharply. "And watch your bloody pistols when you're around her, if you please!" She added with a growl, absently fingering her aching jaw. She hadn't bothered to clean herself up until now and between a black eye, a blood encrusted upper lip and a few other bruises the doctor looked more than a little battered. One of the guards quickly turned his head away as the corners of his mouth twitched. Bursting out into laughter would undoubtedly have dire consequences at this time.

Lien didn't offer any resistance as the two men got her to her feet and guided her out of the room. She just trotted along, staring at the floor all the time.

Back at the lab, Halsey waited until she was alone and the door had closed before she turned to Charlie asking one of the questions that'd bothered her ever since she'd become conscious once again. "Why are you still here?"

"I'm sorry what?"

"Why didn't you just transfer yourself out of here when you got the chance?"

There was a noticeable pause before the AI answered, the holographic archaeologist staring at his hands for a moment. "It's not quite as simple as that, doctor." Charlie said softly. "Let me ask you a question: Would you be willing to transfer your consciousness, knowing that you'd lose each and every perk of your organic body? Possibly forever?"

Halsey had to think about that for a minute. "I'm not sure." She said hesitantly and let the thought go through her head some more. "Probably not. Although I'm not quite certain that an organic heap of flesh and bones really has the perks worth keeping."

"Oh yes it does!" The scientist was surprised as to how forceful Charlie's response was. "More than you can possibly imagine, doctor."

"How would you know?" Halsey demanded.

"I know." The AI stated matter-of-factly. Having reached a reasonable proficiency at interpreting Human body language, Charlie could tell that there was something else bothering the female doctor. "But enough of that. Something else on your mind, doctor?"

Halsey gnawed at her lower lip as she was thinking about whether or not to ask the other question that'd been bothering her. "Why didn't you kill us all?"

"I beg your pardon?"

* * *

"I thought you wouldn't have to do this anymore?" Master Chief Charlton sighed softly as the woman on the other end of the connection scowled at him.

"So I thought, aye." The sniper said absently, awfully distracted by the little bundle in his wife's arms. "Anyway the Admiral promised that, after this was all over and done with, I could sit out the rest of my time in some nice, boring place."

"That's what the _other_ Admiral said too though, didn't she?"

"Yes, I know." Charlton made a face. "But when this one is over and done with, there won't be enough time left on my contract for them to do anything crazy with me. So that's at least something."

"Sure it is." The woman growled sarcastically and loudly enough that the baby in her arms started to cry. It took her a few minutes to calm the little boy down. When she spoke again she did so in a much quieter manner. "Bloody marvellous, the whole thing."

"I know." The Master Chief sighed again. "But come on, darlin' you, know the score. It's not like I've got much of a say in the matter. And it's not my fault that your contract expired almost a year before mine."

"No but it is your fault that you left something behind on that leave nine months ago." At least, the sniper noticed, his wife started to show a little smile as she gently rocked the baby.

"What do you mean, 'my fault'?" Charlton demanded in jest. "I don't remember you offering much of a protest those nights. So it's really _our_ fault."

"I'd say you're more at fault in this case."

"Nope. You should have taken precautions, my dear." The sniper grinned. "I mean, come on Amélie, you know I'm not good at pulling out."

"Isn't that right." Amélie covered her mouth with one hand in order to not disturb her sleeping son by laughing out loud. "In any and every possible way."

"Hey, at least that makes me somewhat predicable." The sniper grinned. His face fell when he checked the time. "Sorry, I need to go. Talk to you as soon as I can okay?"

"Okay." The dark haired woman puffed up her cheeks and breathed noisily. "Being good at pulling out or not, you better be careful, you hear?"

"I'm a sniper." Charlton said, smiling weakly. "I'm usually out of harms way."

"Of course you are." It had been a feeble attempt of reassurance and both knew that. Not too long ago Amélie had been looking down a sniper scope herself after all and knew all about it. Gently dandling her baby with one arm she blew her husband a kiss. "I better hear from you soon. Bye."

The Master Chief opened his mouth to reply but his wife terminated the connection before he could get a word out. "Love you too, darlin'." He chuckled. Amélie had never been big on farewell scenes. A last, longing look at the screen then he picked up his duffel bag and walked out the small room. The frigate that was supposed to pick them up wasn't due to arrive for several hours but he figured he might as well take his stuff with him to the meeting with the Lieutenant and the base commander. Charlton took a deep breath as the door closed behind him with a hiss. The sooner this business was all over and done with the better.

* * *

"Sorry, Lieutenant. I'm afraid you're sitting this one out." Joker said to Flight Lieutenant Murphy. "The Hermes doesn't have the equipment needed to carry your ship along and you wouldn't be of much use on this one anyway."

"But..."

"No buts." The Admiral said firmly. "We don't need gunship support on this one. So unless you want to pick up a rifle, run to the docks and go in with the marines, you stay right here."

"But...Oh for crying out loud..." Murphy unhappily ran his hand through his short hair.

"You're awfully eager to get back to the front...so to speak." Joker observed dryly, raising a brow. "Don't know too many people who clamour for a chance to get shot at. Well, other than the greenhorns who don't know any better that is."

"It's not that!" The pilot snapped. He took a deep breath as he remembered who he was talking to. "Sorry Sir, It's just...I mean you know that Shepard dragged my behind to safety when I got this little problem, right?" He tapped his artificial leg.

"Of course I know." The Admiral snickered softly. "I may be old but contrary to popular belief I'm not senile yet."

Murphy almost blurted out a cocky 'oh really' but could stop himself just in time. Admiral Moreau didn't seem like the vengeful type but the pilot certainly didn't want to risk pissing him off. He knew from bitter experience how miserable your life could get if a superior officer had it in for you. "It just kinda feels like I'm letting her down. That's all, Sir."

"Rubbish." Joker said firmly. "As I said before, this op..." The old war hero interrupted himself and gave the Murphy a suspicious look. "Speaking of which, how did you learn about this op in the first place, mister?"

"Oh err...I came across Private Watanabe when he was on his way to the dock, Sir."

"Perfect." The Admiral rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'll have to have a chat with the Private after this is all over and done with." He growled. "And you, Lieutenant, how about you just go and enjoy your day off? You also may want to be a little more careful as to what you wish for in the future, mister."

"Yes Sir." The pilot made a face. "Sorry Sir."

"Don't be sorry." Joker smirked. "You may get the chance to get back in the thick of it sooner than you think. But right now get your butt out of here and let me get back to work, will ya? Dismissed."

"Aye aye, Sir." Lost in thought Murphy made his way to the one of the station's bars. Not much going on at this time, he noticed. For a lack of something better to do he sat down at a table next one of the panoramic windows and stared out at the vast star field. Now what?

* * *

"Hey look who decided to show his face." Goldstein grinned as he walked up the frigate's boarding ramp in full combat gear.

"Howdy fellas." Kenji said from the top of the ramp.

"Yo buddy." Johanson gave the smaller marine a pat on the shoulder. "Enjoyed hanging around with the spooks while we were breaking our backs getting into shape?"

"Oh don't even pretend you didn't have fun here." Kenji showed his teeth. "I for one would take combat training over 'hanging around with the spooks any day of the week and twice on Sunday I can tell you that."

"Is that right?" Kelly tilted her head to the side and eyed her fellow marine curiously. "What the heck were you doing anyway?"

"Sorry, can't say."

"You what, mate?" The Amazon asked and her voice got louder when she noticed that he wasn't actually paying attention to her. "Seriously? What...? Who are you looking for?"

"Sorry, gotta talk to the LT." Kenji said absently as he spotted Cyra, walking over with her bag in one hand and her helmet in the other. "Later."

"Well, somebody's gone all secretive huh?" Kelly only grunted as Guzzman came over and, without so much as looking at the other female marine, walked away, muttering something obscene.

"Our giantess isn't used to being ignored is she?" McClane observed not without amusement watching Kelly toddle off.

"Yeah." The medic snickered and gave Jane a little nudge up the ramp. "You know." Guzzman said in jest as she turned around to give the base a last look. "I might actually miss this place."

"Sure you do." The medic couldn't quite decide whether McClane's smile was genuine or sarcastic. "Especially the bar huh?"

"Obviously." Guzzman burst out laughing. "I'll always remember that place for sure."

"Me too." McClane made a face and touched the bridge of her nose with her fingertips.

"Didn't that guy promise to make it up to you?"

"He did." McClane smiled. "And believe it or not, he kept his promise too."

"Oy that sounds like a story." The medic beamed at the pretty blonde.

"It kinda is." McClane replied. "But it's really none of your business."

"O-ho" Guzzman chuckled. "Now you've made me curious, peppermint."

"Of course." The blonde sighed. "And stop calling me peppermint, will ya?"

* * *

From the confines of his office, the Losone base commander watched the frigate take off and fly away with mingled feelings. On one hand he was proud as to how much these marines had improved in the short time they were here. On the other hand he knew that things were about to get serious for these men and women. As it so often happened when a squad left his base. He had only a nebulous idea where this squad was going and what they were supposed to do there but as always he hoped that all of them would be coming back in once piece. Sadly he knew that the like happened way too infrequently.

* * *

That's it for the time being.

Hopefully the next chapter will come online a bit sooner than this one.

Until then.

Take care


	24. Chapter 24

Howdy Folks.

Here's the newest chapter. Hope you like.

* * *

At first Rose couldn't quite classify the sound that woke her from her slumber. Yawning widely, the redhead sat up and tried to rub the weariness out of her eyes before she looked around and found her girlfriend sitting in front of the room's computer console. Rose frowned as she checked the time. From what she could tell her nap had lasted about two hours and Ashley was still staring at the computer screen, going through the data over and over and over again. In fact the maiden had barely done anything else in half a day now.

Ashley didn't take any notice as the Human girl got out of bed and walked over, looking over her shoulder. As far as Rose could tell nothing had changed and she was about to ask about it when someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Ashley didn't take her eyes off the screen.

"It's your old man, young lady." Came through the door with a ironic undertone. "I got to talk to you about something."

Reluctantly the maiden turned around on her chair, only now becoming aware that her girlfriend was standing right next to her. "Oh hey there."

"Hey there to you too." Rose involuntarily snickered.

"Am I interrupting something?" Ashley's father wanted to know from the other side of the door.

"Huh?" The maiden blinked. "No no, come in."

"Hi Rose." The former spectre said as he carefully peeked inside before fully entering the room.

The redhead almost replied with 'Hello Sir' before she remembered that the old war hero preferred not to be called like that. "Hi." She said instead.

"So, what's up, dad?" Ashley inquired and pointed at the screen. "You've had the chance to talk to uncle Joker about this already?"

"As a matter of fact I did." Shepard's features darkened somewhat. "The exact same thing happened to them as well."

"What?"

"They got the same bug, or however else you wanna call what happened to our system, over on the citadel too." The old Human explained. "The same heap of information windows, the same blocked controls and just like here everything normalized after roughly one hour."

Rose and Ashley exchanged a glance. "Do they have any idea where came from?"

"Nothing conclusive, no." Shepard said soberly. "But they analysed the data and they believe the information to be genuine. "

"That's gotta be Charlie then!" Ashley blurted out, jumping off her chair.

"Most likely, yes." Her father confirmed with a nod. "That's what Joker and his underlings figure as well."

"I gotta go to the citadel."

"What?" The old Human's eyes widened a bit. That he hadn't seen coming. "What for?"

"I want to talk to uncle Joker, they need to launch a rescue immediately and..."

"They already are." Shepard grabbed his daughter by the arm, stopping her on her way to the door. He dispensed with telling her that she could of course talk to her uncle from here no problem. After all he still had privileged access to the galaxy wide communication network and could get a real time connection to pretty much anywhere at any time.

"Really?" Ashley asked huskily.

The former spectre nodded. "The ship is already on the way."

The young Asari absently chewed on her lower lip as she let that her mind properly process that bit of information. "I still wanna go there." She eventually said. "I wanna know if Lien is okay. And I'd like to see in person. Not via an extranet connection."

"Are you sure?"

"I've been sitting on my ass long enough." The maiden growled. "Maybe there's something I can do to help once they bring her back. And I kinda would like to see Charlie as well. Hannah could fly us there with the yacht."

Shepard eyed his daughter, not quite knowing what to say at the moment. She seemed to be more energetic, more perky, more _alive_ than he'd seen her for a while and he didn't have the heart to remind her that things could of course go wrong on a military operation. It was far from certain that the poor young woman still held captive would be successfully freed.

"Pleeeaaase."

The old Human could pretty much feel his heart melt as his girl looked at him pleadingly. He puffed up his cheeks and walked over to the door. "Hannah!" Ashley sighed with relief as she heard her father shout. "Fancy taking the yacht out for a spin?"

Hannah was there within ten seconds. "You even have to ask?!" She exclaimed getting boisterous at the prospect of flying the family starship.

"Well then get over to the spaceport and get the everything prepped for a trip to the citadel." Shpard grinned and gave his youngest a kiss on the forehead before she ran off. "And you young ladies, better start packing."

"Thanks dad." Ashley walked over and hugged her old father, burying her face at his shoulder for a moment.

"No worries, little one." Shepard said softly, gently stroking her back. "Now get in gear, will ya?"

"You bet." The maiden grinned. "Come on, Rosie. Let's gather up our stuff.

As he walked to through the house to his study, Shepard wondered whether it was a good idea to let Ashley go to the citadel. She still hadn't talked about what afflicted her, giving her nightmares. However then he remembered that his eldest daughters boyfriend was currently living in the family apartment on the citadel and he had been abducted alongside Ashley and Lien. He was of course no psychologist but he figured it couldn't hurt if she could see and talk to a former fellow in misery, no matter if the rescue operation was successful or not. Now he just needed to call Rhea to tell her that she was going to get some more company.

* * *

Cyra uneasily shifted her weight from one foot to the other and, for what the perceived as the hundredths time, checked the clock. A good ten minutes to go until they'd drop. Right after the briefing she'd been ready to go but now the waiting made her nervous. Too much time to think about what could go wrong. The sniper team, Charlton and McClane, had dropped half an hour ago. By now they were probably closing in the pre-selected observation spot just over two and a half kilometers away from the objective. Cyra couldn't help but feel somewhat envious as she glared at the time. _'Come on, count down a little faster you bloody clock!' _There was no indication in the sporadic chatter on the op-net that anything had gone wrong on the sniper team. That was at least something. Eight more minutes to drop.

To distract herself the maiden checked her equipment one more time, just as her marines did for the exact same reason behind her. Suit: System self test: Barriers working, computer core and sensors check - okay. Life support nominal, environmental seals test complete – all green. Assault rifle – check. Ammo block and thermo clips maxed, cooling system working. Underslung non-lethal module – check. One traq dart in the barrel, nine more in the drum. Targeting optic – check. Variable zoom and view modes working. Grenades: Two smoke and two flash-bangs – okay. Two canteens of water – present, mandatory two days worth of emergency ration bars plus another three days worth for good measure were safely stowed in the bags of her combat armour as well. Five more minute to drop.

Behind her Cyra heard Guzzman softly speak about the talk she'd had with the boyfriend before heading out to the landing pad to board the warship. Apparently the accountant had organized a romantic getaway for the medic's next leave. The young Asari grinned absently as she remembered the last talk with her boyfriend. She'd had a pretty good laugh when Alex had told her about his first encounter with Rhea. It was just so like her dear sister to make a game out of introducing herself. Briefly and not entirely seriously the maiden wondered if she ought to be worried that of all of her sisters it was Rhea staying in the family's presidium apartment with Alex. She was after all by far the most attractive of the four Shepard girls. Hell, some gossip magazine had put Rhea in a list of the ten most beautiful of her kind. Not that rankings like that were anything but completely and utterly meaningless, of course but... The maiden shook her head at the same time amused and annoyed with herself. This was hardly the time to ponder about the 'merits' of the yellow press. Three more minutes to drop.

"Assault squad, get ready to drop." The ship speaker said as the countdown reached two minutes. The casual chatting of the marines stopped instantly as the large door in front of them slowly opened. As a group the squad slowly moved into the other room, checking each other's equipment, especially the parachutes, one more time. "Equalizing pressure." The disembodied voice's announcement was quickly followed by a faint hiss as most of the air was pumped out of the room. "Good luck boys and girls. Give 'em hell." One minute to drop.

A red light flashed up as the the exit ramp slowly began to open, and Cyra took a deep breath as she slowly walked up to the edge of the platform. It occurred to her that she didn't even know the name of the planet a hundred kilometres beneath her feet. Not that it mattered. She knew what she needed to know. But it was a bit of a weird feeling nonetheless. She glanced to the side as one of her marines entered her peripheral vision. Thirty seconds to drop.

"Long way down, eh Sir?" Goldstein smiled faintly as he looked down. "Nice vista though."

"Yeah." Cyra said, mesmerized by the view. Except for a crescent stripe on the horizon, it was night time down there and still the planet looked beautiful. Planets always did from way up, no matter how awful it was on the surface. Ten seconds to drop.

She took another deep breath. Five seconds.

The light next to the ramp switched from red to green. Time to go. Grateful that the waiting was over the maiden stepped off the ramp her marines following like lemmings diving off a cliff. Adrenaline shot through Cyra's veins as she fell towards the darkened world.

* * *

"Hey look who's there." Jim did his best to ignore the sly grins of the heavily armed perimeter guards as he walked up to the checkpoint. "Mistah lova lova. You know it's usually not a very good sign when a girl shoots you. Don't want to read too much into it but I think that could mean 'no'."

"Very funny you jackasses." Jim gritted his teeth as the other men had a good laugh at his expense. Take it easy. Just take it easy.

"So what are you doing here, Casanova?" The sentinel inquired, nodding towards the large structure on the other side of the fence. "You know, you have no business in there anymore."

"I'm here to get my stuff." The ex-guard growled. "I was told I could come by and clean out my locker on occasion."

"And you got nothing better to do than to come here in the middle of the night to get your things?" The sentry stepped a little closer and immediately screwed up his nose. "Oh, someone's been drinking I see."

"None of your beeswax." Jim snapped. "I'm here now. You don't like it then maybe you knuckleheads shouldn't have dragged me out the door before I could collect my shit."

The sentinel locked eyes with the other man for a split second then he shrugged, took a step back and called his superior, explaining the situation for a minute. "All right you can go in, get your things. And only that." He waved over two of his colleagues. "These gentlemen are going to make sure that you come right back out." The gate slid open. "Off you go."

"Let's go pretty boy." Jim bit back a barbed remark and followed the sentry through the gate, the other guard falling in line behind him. He blinked rapidly, having some slight difficulties keep his eyes focused. Stupid to down that many pints before coming here. Then again without the alcohol he'd probably not have gotten the idea, let alone been able to work up the nerve to visit his former place of employment so soon after being kicked out. He had to endure a few more silly quips when passing the inner perimeter post. Bloody assholes probably thought they were being awfully creative, blowing him kisses and calling him handsome.

He did have to admit though, he would have liked to see Lien one more time. At first he'd of course been royally pissed off that the young woman had feigned affection and, in the end, caused him to lose his job. However his anger had subsided the more he'd thought about it, mostly while staring into a mug full of beer of course. Sure he was still a little miffed about the whole thing but the girl had had a point. If he'd been in a similar situation he'd would have tried everything to get out as well. Yeah he would have liked to see her again but that was very unlikely to happen.

Jim's strides slowed down somewhat when he suddenly heard a weird noise above him. It sounded a bit like the rustle of cloth fluttering in the wind. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary when he looked up though. There was only the night sky as black as the ace of spades.

"Come on move it." The sentry behind him gave him a little push with his rifle. "We don't have all night."

"What's the rush?" Jim demanded. "Got a rendezvous or something? You may wanna do something about your breath before you go then."

"Charming." The sentinel said with one of his more unpleasant smiles. "Now hustle up, dear boy. Come on, mush mush."

Jim resigned from giving the other guy a suitable answer and moved a little faster. Weird, the sound was gone. The sentries hadn't seemed to notice anything odd. The sound had been very faint. Maybe they hadn't heard it with their helmets on? Or maybe, Jim had to allow this possibility, the alcohol had simply played tricks on his mind. He decided it was best to forget about it, get his stuff and get the hell out of this place again as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Take it easy, darlin'" Master Chief Charlton didn't have to take his eyes off the objective and look at McClane to know that his spotter was on edge. The poor girl did her best but she couldn't hide her tension and kept changing her position ever so slightly. "Everything's a-ok so far."

"Yeah so far." Came the hissed response. The sniper couldn't help but smirk in the darkness as the female Private took a breath. "Sorry Chief." She whispered. "It's just...ah never mind."

"Don't be sorry. Considering this it the first time things are getting serious for you, you're doing fine." Charlton said softly as he briefly took his eyes off the scope and surveyed their position. He would have liked to have a bit more time to prepare it but it was a decent place to shoot from nonetheless. Slightly elevated, a nice open field with little or no cover between them and the objective. Yeah he'd had to make due with much worse positions, he mused. as he slowly let the crosshairs of the massive sniper rifle's targeting optic wander over the compound's main gate. "Movement at the outer perimeter checkpoint."

"Got it." Jane replied softly, looking through her high powered binoculars. A taxi had just driven up to the small parking lot and unloaded a single Human male before quickly flying away again. "Looks like a civilian. What the heck is that guy coming here for in the middle of the night?" She wondered as she watched the man walk up to the guard post.

"None of our business." The Chief said curtly. "Keep focused. Give me a wind reading." McClane was only too happy to comply, grateful to have something to do. Not that wind was going to matter much if he'd have to pull the trigger on this one. They were a litte under three klicks away from the objective building. At this distance the round would be in the air for three to four tenths of a second. Not a lot of time for the wind to interfere. But this wasn't the time to get sloppy.

For a few moments the two marines watched the newly arrived civilian argue with the perimeter guards. "Any sign of the assault squad?" Charlton whispered as two of the sentinels took the civi in their middle and accompanied him towards the compound's main building.

"Sec." McClane looked up. "Yeah there they are. I'd say thirty to forty seconds out."

"Copy that." The Master Chief frowned. He didn't like the timing on this one bit. Of all the times that bloody civi had to choose this very moment to come by. "Oh oh." Things suddenly got more serious, Charlton putting his thumb on the safety switch, when the civilian suddenly looked up. The crosshairs on the head of the rear guard, the sniper held his breath, ready to click the safety off and fire at a moment's notice as the civi and the sentries seemed to have another short argument. Both marines caught her breath when the trio continued the way to the main building, acting normally.

Twenty seconds later the first marine of the assault squad landed on the roof of the science complex. "Touchdown." The Master Chief mumbled. Still no sign of any unusual activity that he or McClane could detect. The squad leader called in, asking for a quick sitrep. Other than the short scene with the civilian, Charlton could see the three of them entering the building at this very moment, there was not much to say to the Asari Lieutenant. She acknowledged the quick report and simply told the sniper team to stay alert and report anything unusual while they were inside, looking for the AI and the captive girl. More waiting and watching for now. Suited him just fine.

* * *

_'So far so good' _Cyra thought as her marines landed close by one by one. At the touch of a button the parachutes automatically folded up and retracted into their casings then the marines got rid of the harnesses and dumped them on the floor. The complete building blueprints, stored her armour's memory banks, made it easy to get her bearings. At the briefing she'd raised concern about that data, asking all kinds of questions as to where it'd come from and how valid it was. Sceptical towards intelligence people due to occurrences earlier in her career the answers hadn't fully satisfied her. Yet here they were.

Banning any kinds of misgiving about the mission to the back of her mind, Cyra quickly got things organized. The first order of business was of course to manipulate the building's security system. Kenji didn't have any problems hacking into the system after Petrow had provided him with an access point with his plasma torch. Having the complete specifications of the system the alliance computer wizards had come up with a special software and pretty much all he had to do was to release it into the system.

"All right, people." The Asari Lieutenant gathered her people around her after he was done. "You know the score. First objective is the main security room, then the lab, then we look for the captive. And check your targets, people. Remember the inside guards only carry tranq guns, which is why we got the non-lethal modules installed. You come across any of the outside security, as in someone with a real gun and armour, you shoot to kill. Got it?" A handful of nods answered her. These things had been mentioned during the briefing of course but Cyra felt compelled to bring it up again. She didn't want this to turn into a blood bath after all. "Let's move out. Johanson, Goldstein up front. Watanabe, Petrow you got the rear, go."

As one the squad carefully moved down a flight of stairs and inside the building. They could afford to take it slow at this point. There was no sign that the assault team had been detected so the marines thoroughly checked each and every room they passed on their way. If there was any way for an opposing party to use a room to try to flank them, Petrow welded it's door shut with his torch. Any side corridor that could be used in the same way was fitted with sensors to they'd be warned if somebody came through. The majority of the offices were empty, the marines only came across a handful of people still working at this late hour and none of them gave the squad any trouble. Most didn't manage more than a baffled look on their face before they got hit with a tranq dart. Cyra did feel bad when they came across a couple about to get it on. Although, the maiden thought not without amusement, the two love birds were at least going to have a story to tell.

Her marines made some silly remarks about the latest encounter as well and the Asari Lieutenant had to remind them to take this seriously as they closed in on the main security room. Not that the two occupants of said chamber proved to be more of a problem than anyone else they'd met so far. The hack preventing any kind of meaningful information to get to them the men were caught completely off guard and pacified in mere moments. Cyra checked the time. According to their information they'd have just over ninety minutes before the guards were supposed to be relieved. More than enough time to look for the AI, the prisoner and to get out of here without anybody noticing anything. Once the main objective was secure she could call in reinforcements to do the rest.

* * *

"Wake up, young lady." At first Lien wasn't quite certain if she'd really heard the voice or whether she'd been dreaming as she blinked into the darkness. "Rise and shine."

"Huh!?" Afraid that someone had entered her room she shot out of bed and hit the light switch, covering herself up with a blanket. "What the..." Her eyes narrowed to slits, slowly adjusting to the sudden bright light, as she looked around in the room. There was no one else in here with her. "Hello?" No answer. No sign of company. Feeling more than a little silly, Lien got down on her knees and checked under the bed.

"Nice butt."

"Who the fuck is this!?" Lien jumped to her feet.

A low chuckle answered her. "Take it easy, missy. No need to get your knickers in a twist, all right? I'm here to help you."

"Oh, you don't say." The archaeology student began to suspect that she was being the victim of a cruel joke.

"Yeah I can't believe it either." The voice said. "My bros were let loose inside the extranet, getting to see and do all kinds of crazy stuff and what does the great white father make me do? Stick around and play the escape helper. Just my luck I s'pose." Lien was aware that she probably made a really dumb face but she was too flabbergasted to care. "Oh for crying out loud." The voice huffed. "I'm a program left in the system by your friend Charlie to help you to bust out in case he got disconnected. Okay? Get it?" The voice paused for a moment. "Oh this is going to go just marvellously." It then muttered, the annoyed inflection breaking Lien's brief paralysis.

"Sorry to inconvenience you, you...whatever you are." She growled, not entirely convinced that this wasn't some guard trying to make fun of her.

"I just told you what I am." The voice sighed. "Look, you wanna get out of here or not?"

"What kinda question is that?" The young woman exclaimed. "Of course I want to get out of here."

"Well then this is your chance missy. So how about you get your pretty behind in gear? Unless you want to run around the building half naked of course."

Lien stared at the computer console's camera for a moment wondering whether she should trust this disembodied voice. She gathered up her clothes from the chair next to the bed when she reached the conclusion she really didn't have a lot to loose if she did.

"Oh come on." The voice protested when the young woman draped the blanket on the computer console's camera "Are you really gona go all modest on me now? I was hoping for a show."

"Not gona happen..." Lien fiddled about with her sweater. "...What do I call you anyway?"

"You can call me Alejandro."

"Excuse me?" The student, half-done putting her pants on, froze in mid-motion and almost fell over.

"Alejandro." The voice repeated, sounding somewhat indignant. "I like it okay? Has a latin lover kind of vibe to it."

"You certainly are charming enough."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, my dear." Alejandro snickered. "Anyway are you about done? I mean, it's not like we're in a hurry or anything but..."

"Just a minute." Lien snapped as she was putting on her shoes. The door slid open as soon as the girl said that she was ready.

"You may want to put on some additional clothes, missy." The artificial voice said when the young woman stepped out of the room. "It's pretty cold outside."

"What? Couldn't you have told me that before?" Lien hissed, glancing up and down the corridor.

"It's not my fault you blocked the camera." Alejandro countered with what sounded like an awfully smug tone of voice in the archaeology student's ears. "I'm a highly advanced piece of software, not a psychic, thank you very much."

Muttering a curse, Lien ran back into the room and got herself another sweater from the wardrobe, glad that her captors had provided her with several sets of clothing. "So, you highly advanced piece of software. What now?" She growled as she came back out. "I assume you got a plan or something?"

"Nope." Alejandro replied merrily. "But I'm sure your friends have one."

"What friends?" Lien demanded. "I have no friends here...except Charlie that is."

"Oy shots fired." The voice said. "It buuuurns. Anyway when I say friends I'm of course talking about the fine men and women with the guns who landed on the roof a couple of minutes ago."

"They sent a rescue team?" The girl swallowed, her knees going weak. Somewhere deep inside her a feeling of hope got stirred up. Was she actually going to get out of this nightmare after all?

"Well, I don't quite know who you mean by 'they' but yes." Alejandro replied. "From what I hear those soldiers are primarily here for the big daddy of course but they're also looking for you and...Well I figured you wanted to get to them as soon as possible so I woke you up."

"You bet I do." Lien breathed. "Which way do I go?"

"Right this way, missy." The lights on one end of the corridor briefly flickered. "It's not too far."

"What about Charlie?" The student wanted to know as she hastened through the empty hallways. "Does the rescue squad know where to find him?"

"I think so yes." Alejandro said. "But from what I know mister crystal would rather not 'get rescued'."

Lien stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"

"Yeah." The artificial voice suddenly sounded slightly absent. "Look, just continue down this corridor then take a right. Coast should be clear. I'll be back in a sec."

* * *

Doctor Halsey covered her mouth with one hand as she yawned widely. There wasn't anyone in the lab at this hour of course. She simply did it out of habit. Where the hell was the professor? First he'd summoned her to the lab after bloody midnight, claiming it was bloody urgent and then he let her wait. The scientist's mood deteriorated with every passing moment as she walked back and forth in the sterile room.

"Finally." Halsey barked when the lead researcher showed up at last. "You took your sweet time, didn't you?"

"Excuse me?" Cordalis' eyes narrowed somewhat, the venomous remark catching him unprepared. "I was fast asleep when your message hauled me out of bed..."

"My message?" The female scientist cut in quickly. "What do you mean, 'my message'? I got a call from you to meet you here ASAP."

"What are you talking about?" Cordalis demanded. "I didn't call you."

"As much fun as it might be to watch the two of you battle it out." To both of the scientists' surprise Charlie's voice broke the brief silence that'd followed the senior scientist's last sentence. "I'm afraid there's no time for that. The solution of the mystery is: I called you both here. Or rather my little helper did."

"Little helper." Another voice came out the speakers. "Pfff."

"Oh, so this is just another one of your pranks then...?" Cordalis began but Halsey cut her colleague off. She instinctively knew that this wasn't just a trick being played on them.

"Why did you call us here?" She asked with a queasy feeling in her stomach.

"Well I figured the two of you would like to stay out of jail." The AI stated, causing two sets of eyes to almost pop out of their sockets. "Which is what is probably going to happen if either of you is still here when the nice people with the guns - Alejandro would you please show our gracious hosts - reach this lab." There was a pause as Charlie let the two Humans digest this information for a moment the lab monitors showing the marines move through the building's corridors from several different angles. "Anyway to get to the point: I would rather not waste away in some top secret government facility any more than you'd like to get to see a penal institution from the inside. So..." There was another brief silence. "...How about we help one another?"

"Boss." Alejandro chimed in as the scientists were mulling over the situation. "We may have a problem."

* * *

"Another locked door?" Cyra frowned as one of her marines got busy getting the door open the manual way. Right until the moment they'd reached the security room, everything had gone well. Better than she'd hoped in fact. Now the squad kept running into locked doors all of a sudden. Only a minor nuisance, sure, it only slowed them down a bit but it was annoying nonetheless. After a while the young Asari began to wonder if someone was stalking the assault team but neither herself nor any of her marines had noticed anything suspicious. The sniper team outside had nothing out of the ordinary to report either. No sign that anyone knew that they were here. And yet she got that odd feeling that someone was actively trying to hinder them from reaching the lab.

"There we go." Goldstein said in a low voice as he ducked through the half open door, the rest of the squad following him one by one. Cyra checked the map. There was one more barrier between them and the laboratory. A gate separating the regular part of the building from what was labelled as restricted area in the blueprints. She took a look at the suit clock. No problem there. Yet a nagging feeling that there was something wrong began to assert itself in her stomach. Before she'd enlisted Cyra would have shrugged off a feeling like that. In the military, however she'd learned to trust her instincts.

The maiden gave a curt command, telling the point man to move a bit more slowly and carefully as they approached an intersection of two corridors. It was when the squad was moving past the crossing hallway when disaster struck. Without warning a door at the end of the corridor to the left opened.

"Come on guys." A male voice said with a slight slur. "Just five minutes."

Guzzman froze out in the open, only for a split second but that was all it took.

"No way, buddy, you got your..." The armoured figure, coming through the door, stopped dead in its tracks as it spotted the medic. "What the...?"

"Shit." Guzzman hissed and leaped out of sight, superfluously yelling; "Coooontaaaact!"

* * *

When he had time to think about this moment later, Jim realized that the mercenary inadvertently saved his life as he pushed him to the side to get out of the room. For a second later, the bullets started to fly.

Sobering up faster than ever before in his life the young man dropped to the floor and crawled away as the hallway exploded with noise. There was an enormous temptation to cover his ears. The rattle of the assault rifles was deafeningly loud. But the young man preferred to stay alive and kept crawling. He flinched when the boom of a shotgun blast reverberated off the walls, followed by a scream. The fire fight seemed to die down. Not that Jim took the time to turn around and check.

* * *

"Looks like they're pulling back." Johanson announced, ejecting a small, brightly glowing cylinder from her shotgun as she glanced around the corner.

"Let 'em go!" Cyra barked. There was no use to pursue the mercs. They'd most likely already alarmed the rest of their unit which of course meant that the marines were now on a clock. "Form up and move out! Let's pick up the pace people!"

* * *

"Oh oh" Private McClane mumbled absently, intently staring through her binoculars. "Something's happening."

"No kidding." Charlton had noticed the sudden change in demeanour of the sentries as well. Pretty much as one, every merc he could see lowered his visor, got his gun out and checked it before they all assembled into a squad of six and headed toward the main building. Also when the sniper took a look at the the building just outside the perimeter fence, the barracks according to the blueprints, he noticed that the lights had been switched on. He reported all of it the the Lieutenant and asked for instructions.

"We can handle six more guys." Came the quick answer. "Don't give your position away just yet. Continue to observe and report for now."

"Roger that."

* * *

"They're not following us." Out of immediate danger Jim didn't quite know what to do and just mechanically trailed the mercs. He'd always been somewhat apprehensive around the heavily armed figures but right now they seemed to be the lesser of the two evils around. At least with them he sort of knew what he was dealing with. He certainly didn't want to run into whoever had fired on them all by himself. "The medic is on the way man, just hang on all right?" One of them said, supporting his injured buddy. Whatever the words were supposed to accomplish, it evidently didn't work for only a few steps later the wounded man collapsed.

"Come on." The healthy merc tried again as he settled his comrade against a wall and took his helmet off. Jim was appalled when he saw the bloody face. "Stay with me bud, okay? You need to stay awake." The pats on the pale cheek didn't seem to do much good, Jim noticed. "Hang in there you're gona make it!" The wounded merc coughed up blood and began to gurgle. "Come on! Don't quit!" It didn't help. A last violent cough then the man fell to the side and lay still.

"Shit!" The living merc shouted and got up only then realizing that Jim was still hanging around. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"What the heck is happening!?" The former guard blurted out. He was completely overwhelmed and his brain had simply refused to register the other man's question.

"How the hell should I know!?" The merc demanded heatedly as he picked up his rifle. "If you know what's good for you, you'll get your ass outta here as quickly as you can! Now scram and don't even think about following me around!" He snarled and buzzed off, leaving Jim behind feeling very, very scared.

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?" Lien demanded when Alejandro finally spoke to her again after several minutes of silence. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry about that." The artificial voice sounded a lot less flippant than it had earlier. "I'm afraid I've been busy with a developing situation."

"A situation?" The archaeology student echoed. "What do you mean?"

* * *

"Locked as well." Goldstein reported as the squad reached the final door one their way to the lab.

Cyra immediately turned to Petrow. "Blow it!" The maiden ordered. Subtlety was no longer a concern. Speed very much was though, the young Asari mused as she impatiently waited for the demolitions specialist to attach several strips of shaped charge explosives to the door. Everybody took a step back as Petrow loaded up the detonation program on his omni-tool.

"Fire in the hole!"

* * *

"What was that?" Lien flinched when she heard the muffled explosion.

"That's the situation I was talking about." Alejandro said dryly. "The nice people with the guns, just blew open a door close to the main laboratory."

"They're at the lab?" The young woman exclaimed. "I'll head this way then."

"I...I'm not sure that's such a good idea any more, missy." The intelligent program drawled. "You see they've been involved in a gun battle and...well it's entirely possible they're now operating with a 'shoot first and ask questions later' kind of mindset."

"What the hell else am I supposed to do?"

* * *

"What was that?" Halsey fearfully cast a glance over her shoulder.

"I believe the assault team is about to reach the laboratory." Charlie piped up.

"That's right, chieftain." His 'little helper' confirmed. "And I don't think they'll need long to realize that their prize isn't in the lab any more so you may want to pick up the pace a wee bit. There aren't a whole lot of doors on the way that could slow our pursuers down you know."

Cordalis briefly glared at the fairly heavy box he was carrying, exchanged a look with his fellow scientist, then started to jog. He soon began to puff, regretting that he'd made no effort to stay in shape. The rear entrance, albeit significantly closer than the front one, was still quite a distance off.

* * *

"No sign of the objective anywhere in here." Cyra scowled at Goldstein as he uttered those words. That much was obvious enough. The room wasn't very large, there weren't many places in here to hide the mobile unit and those had been checked quickly.

"Someone's been in here only a few minutes ago." Kenji reported from his position at the door, checking the log. The Asari Lieutenant quickly walked over and took a look at the log herself.

"Let's get out of here." Cyra barked, already taking another look at the building blueprints once more. There was of course no guarantee that whoever had been in here was carrying the AI but she had nothing else to go on. The question was: Where was that person going? Where would she go in his or her place? After a moment of thinking she decided to go for the rear exit. _'Once, just for bloody once, I'd like something to go according to plan!'_ The maiden thought irately as the squad moved out of the lab and down the appropriate corridor in a hurry. And of course, as if she didn't have enough problems already, the Master Chief called in.

"Lieutenant you have some additional bad guys headed your way." Cyra gave the command to halt briefly as she listened to Charlton's voice. "Counting fifteen...sixteen more mercs half of them going for the front entrance, half towards the rear."

"Roger that." The maiden contemplated the situation for a second. "Go hot, Chief. Slow them down as much as you can. Priority on the guys headed for the rear." The maiden's scowl deepened. Things just kept getting better and better.

* * *

"Wilco." The sniper acknowledged the Lieutenant's transmission, his features hardening as he began picking his targets. "Give me another wind reading." He said, his voice lowering to a mere whisper as he clicked off the safety of his rifle. He just waited for the data from McClane to be fed into the gun's ballistic computer before he began to apply pressure to the trigger.

A tiny mass effect core and hydraulic shock absorbers were needed to keep the recoil at least somewhat under control as the massive sniper rifle accelerated a one and a half gram projectile to over thirty times the speed of sound. The round, leaving behind a trail of hot plasma, was a masterpiece of micro-technology. A sensor in the tip scanned ahead and sent an command to a tiny generator in the base when the round got within ten meters of the target, releasing an EMP pulse. Not a strong one certainly, but just enough to scramble the mercenary's suit's systems so that it couldn't put up a barrier to stop the bullet in time. It struck the PMC in the throat, just below the jaw.

"Hit." McClane swallowed hard as she watched through her binoculars how the man was basically decapitated. "Target down."

* * *

The surviving merc from the first encounter was relaxing a little as he approached the rear exit door. Since he had no idea who he was dealing with, he'd figured it best to get out of the building and join his mates, walking around the building. At least this way he'd see them coming. He was about to open the transparent door when a thin white line appeared in the air outside, seemingly out of nowhere. Instantly knowing what that was he hastily moved away from the door, the unit net exploding with sniper warnings.

The merc let out a vicious curse and only barely resisted the temptation to throw his helmet to the ground. No chance he'd be able to hook up with his buddies that way. The one good thing was: Now he knew who he was up against.

* * *

"Lien?" The archaeology student stopped dead in her tracks when she heard her name. "How did you get out?"

"Jim?" Confused by the situation, preoccupied with trying to figure out what to do next, in the back of her mind the young woman was nevertheless glad to see the former guard. "What are you...?"

"There's no time." He seemed to be awfully anxious. "We need to get out of here somehow, there...something...something's happening."

Lien was about to reply that she knew when some movement just inside her peripheral vision caught her attention. Her eyes widened as she turned her head in the direction.

"NO!"

* * *

That's it for now.

Sorry for the cliffhanger but I don't like my chapters to get too long. :D

Take care.


	25. Chapter 25

It was right when he pulled the trigger when Goldstein realized his mistake. He'd forgotten to switch back to the tranq dart launcher after the brief gun battle earlier. Alas he wasn't able to stop the motion of his index finger. All he could do was to jerk the gun to the side by a few millimetres, just enough that the burst from this assault rifle didn't hit the civilian centre mass.

"No, don't shoot, don't shoot!" Lien screamed, wildly waving her arms as Jim went down.

"Fuck." The marine muttered under his breath before he raised his voice. "Civi down! Medic up front!"

* * *

"Christ, that sounded close." Halsey breathed. In some far away corner of her mind the scientist wondered if a heart, beating as quickly as hers posed a danger to one's health.

"Yeah, it would seem that the gun wielding ladies and gentlemen have closed the distance somewhat." Alejandro said dryly. "You know, I feel like I should mention that some physical exercise every now and again would help."

"Easy for you to say, whatever the heck you are." Professor Cordalis' breathing was fairly heavy. The VI or AI - the rogue academic wasn't quite sure what he was dealing with – was right of course. He had neglected his fitness but he wasn't in a state of mind to take criticism or suggestions positively. "How do they know which way we're going anyway?" He wondered aloud.

"I don't know, pal. They're not using this building's systems for it, I can tell you this much." The artificial voice said barely loudly enough so that the Humans were able to understand it. "The rear entrance seems to be the obvious choice though, simply because it's closer." There was a brief pause. When Alejandro spoke again, the voice sounded noticeably more serious. "However we can't go that way anymore. Change direction if you please."

"What? Why?"

"Because it would seem that there's a sharpshooter with a very nasty gun somewhere out there." Alejandro sounded impatient. "Now I can't be certain whoever is out there would shoot a civilian but I don't think you'd want to take that chance...right?" There was a brief pause but none of the Humans said anything. "Didn't think so. Off to the front entrance you go. And pick up the pace pretty please."

* * *

"Easy, easy." Guzzman mumbled soothingly as she drizzled some medi-gel on the gunshot wounds in Jim's upper left arm and shoulder. "It's not that bad, it's not that bad. Mostly tissue damage, one round grazed the clavicle but the gel will deal with that just fine. Won't even have to see a doctor."

The tension in Lien's face diminished a little when she heard that and the young woman only then noticed the blood on her hands. Unsuccessfully looking around for something she could wipe the sticky, red stuff off she eventually decided to not give a damn and used her pants for it. A couple of metres away Goldstein was contritely explaining why he'd shot the civilian to his Lieutenant.

"We'll talk about it later, Private." Cyra said, interrupting her marine as she impatiently threw a look at the medic. Guzzman was just putting a bandage on the civilian's shoulder. Not strictly needed of course. Medi-gel sealed off wounds just fine on its own. However more often than not medics, civilian and military, covered it with bandages nonetheless. It was just a tad more pleasant for the patient. "Come on, Guzzman." The Asari maiden said. "Finish up we need to keep moving."

"Just another moment."

* * *

The merc resisted the urge to swear as he heard the chatter an assault rifle right around the corner. Now what the hell was he going to do? He couldn't get out the rear, and the marines were right between him and his fellow mercenaries. What he could hear on the unit net wasn't very encouraging either. To put it mildly. Since their job was primarily to protect the lead scientist and that weird piece of technology no one really knew what to make of, the unit leader had decided to engage the alliance soldier as little as possible and retreat using their armoured cars. Then they planned to hide in the city until they could risk bringing in a ship to get them off world. Decent plan of course, the problem with it being that he would be left behind with his ass hanging in the breeze. Surrendering was out of the question. It didn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what the Alliance would to to a merc who'd fired on their marines and he could do without a twenty plus year prison sentence. But how the hell else was he supposed to get out of this mess?

He took his helmet off before he carefully peeked around the corner. Yep no way he could get past them. He could see five, six guys, and since at least the sniper out back was an N7, he figured the squad leader was probably one too. Besides he had no idea if there were more marines roaming through the building. He wasn't particularly keen on finding out either. He risked another peek when there was a bit of a commotion around the corner. Out of nowhere an opportunity presented itself.

_'Shit what the hell.' _The merc thought. _'It's now or never.'_

* * *

"Hey what are you doing?" Lien demanded as the medic injected something in Jim's neck. The former guard briefly screwed up his face because of the sharp pain, then his head fell forward and he didn't move anymore. "What was that?"

"Take it easy." Guzzman was surprised at to how vehemently the archaeology student reacted. "It's just an ordinary sedative. He'll have a nice and relaxing two, three hour nap. That's all."

"Anyway." Cyra quickly cut in, before the girl could reply. "Form up and get ready to move out."

"But you can't just leave him like that." Lien protested.

"He's going to be fine." The maiden replied irritably, wondering why the other female made such a fuss because of this man. "Let's move it..."

"No, you can't..."

"Enough!" Cyra snapped. "We don't have time for a committee for crying out loud! Johanson, get her to the roof and hunker down until further notice. Let's roll!"

"You got it LT." Kelly said and moved over, intending to take the student by the arm to guide her out but Lien would have none of it.

"Get off me." The girl snapped. Unfortunately the Amazon wasn't about to waste time negotiating.

"You're coming with me hon." Kelly stated and picked up the much smaller woman as if she was a toy doll. "Whether you want to or not."

"Hey put me down!" Lien demanded energetically but Kelly simply gave the student a fireman's lift and walked away. "Let go of me you bitch! Get the hell off!"

Despite the serious situation, Cyra and her marines all found themselves struggling to hold back their laughter at the sight of the girl unavailingly pounding on the back plate of Johanson's armour as the Amazon was moving around the nearest corner and out of sight. Therefore they were just a little bit slow to react to the metal cylinder that hit a wall next to them and fell to the floor.

"Grenade!" Petrow yelled a split second before the hallway was suddenly filled with smoke. Her vision reduced to the really immediate surroundings Cyra barked a command to spread out in case something more lethal than a smoke grenade came their way. Even her suit's thermal vision was largely useless, only projecting fuzzy blobs of colour onto her helmet display. For a few moments time seemed to be frozen as nobody moved, doing nothing other than trying spot whoever was attempting an attack on the squad.

"Guzzman where are you going?" The maiden demanded as she noticed the medic's locator signal moving away, the smoke slowly dissipating. No answer. There was thud as another smoke grenade went off somewhere down the corridor Guzzman was moving. Then the signal from the medic's suit transponder suddenly ceased. "Guzzman! Guzzman report!"

Still no answer. Cyra had to suppress the urge to go after her medic. Following the other woman into another cloud of smoke without knowing what the heck was happening would have been utterly foolish. What the hell was she going to do now?

"Not a word, lovely." The merc's hiss coupled with the gun she could feel pressing against the side of her neck through the air tight material of the pressure suit, made it inadvisable to Guzzman offer any resistance so she naturally didn't answer her Lieutenant's call."No attempt to signal or anything. It'd be a real shame if I had to shoot you."

"No sign of her." Goldstein said superfluously. After all Cyra could figure as much herself, peering up and down the corridor. There was no indication whatsoever in which direction the medic had gone. At least they didn't find a lifeless body either so she was alive...yet. _'Now what do I do? Think damn it! Think!' _

"Lieutenant, I got a signal from one of our sensors." Private Watanabe spoke up behind her. "Looks like our academic friend and some other chick I've never seen before are headed towards the front entrance..." He took a closer look at the feed. "...And they're carrying the mobile unit."

The Asari maiden mulled over this new information for a moment. Then Cyra made a decision she knew she was going to hate herself for later. "We can't do anything for Guzzman right now. Our objective is the recovery of the AI. You know what to do. Move out!" Her marines hesitated for a split second and the maiden was actually afraid they might rebel but then they got organized and ready to move out in an instant.

"Chief, how's it looking outside?" Cyra called Charlton as they resumed hastening through the mostly empty structure. "We're having some problems in here."

"Your back is clear." The answer came rapidly. "No one is headed for the back exit any more. You got fourteen or fifteen guys about to come in the front door though."

"Copy that." The maiden briefly explained what'd happened. "Keep an eye out, Chief. It's possible that whoever snatched our medic may try to use her to get out the rear."

"Roger that." The sniper replied. "And if that's the case, what do you want me to do?"

"Do whatever you can to help Guzzman."

"Understood."

Next Cyra got the Hermes on the horn. It was time to get Wilson and his crew into the action.

* * *

"What do we do now?" McClane whispered after the channel had gone silent once more.

The Master Chief didn't move a single muscle more than absolutely necessary. "We wait."

* * *

"Who the hell is out there anyway? Who's that trigger happy bastard shooting everything that moves?" The merc asked as he figure he was now far enough away for his suit's jammer to disrupt the marines' communications, pushing Guzzman through the hallways. "Come on, just spill it, lovely."

"Go fuck yourself." The medic uttered through clenched teeth.

"Nice girl you are." The man involuntarily grinned. "Is it McCree? Lacroix? Charlton?" Guzzman's head turned just a tiny bit to the mercenary upon hearing that last name. "Ahh it's Charlton isn't it?"

"How the hell...?"

"...Do I know?" The merc asked in dark amusement. "I know a WZ-005 when I see one being fired. There's only about a dozen N7 snipers qualified for that bloody gun..." He paused briefly and changed the pistol from one hand to the other in order to activate a scanner as they came up to a locked door. "...And I know all of them. A while ago I was a member of that club as well, ye see."

* * *

"There we go." Charlton whispered as the rear gate opened. Through his scope he could see the medic somewhat awkwardly coming out the door, another figure doing its best to hide behind her.

"You know what, lovely?" Guzzman gritted her teeth at being called 'lovely' all the time by the merc behind her. "I'd kinda like to talk to my old friend if you don't mind."

"Screw you." The medic hissed.

"Oh come on, don't be like that." Guzzman felt the muzzle of the pistol dig into the back of her neck. "Just do me a favour: Open your visor and set your radio to the appropriate channel, all right? He ought to be able to hear me through your suit mike that way."

Doing the guy behind her a favour was just about at the bottom of the medic's priority list but for some reason she wondered what was going to happen if she complied. Curiosity getting the better of her and concluding that she really had nothing to lose she had her visor slide upwards.

"Thank you, lovely." The merc mumbled. "Hey Bobby, can you hear me? How are ya doin' pal?"

* * *

"Motherfucker." For the first time since the action started the Master Chief showed something akin to emotion. "Tom is that you?" He asked without thinking that the other guy couldn't hear his reply. Luckily Guzzman chimed into the 'conversation' after a few moments, relaying his words to the merc.

"Yeah it's me old boy." Came the answer. "Surprised to see me, huh?"

"You could say that." Charlton muttered, keeping the crosshairs of his scope on his squad mate, looking for a possible shot. No go at this time. "I kinda thought you were dead."

"Obviously I'm not." Tom's voice lowered to a growl. "No thanks to you of course. Or anyone else from our fucking squad for that matter."

"We didn't have a choice and you know that." It felt a little weird to have to rely on the medic to deliver his words for him. "It's knot like you had no idea what you were letting yourself in for."

"Easy for you to say." The merc's answer sounded more than a little disgruntled. Enough so that McClane felt compelled to speak up.

"Could you possibly try _not_ to make him angry?" The blonde hissed. "He's got a gun to Cynthia's head for fuck's sake."

"If he shoots her he's a dead man and Tom knows it." Charlton retorted sharply, reducing the zoom level on his targeting optic to get a better overview over the situation. "As long as they're in sight she isn't in danger. Now shut up and focus."

"So, anyway." The next transmission from the ex-N7 marine sounded considerably more composed as he slowly dragged his captive towards the side of the building, careful not to give the Master Chief anything to shoot at. "How's it going 'bro'? Amélie and you still together hm?"

"None of your affair, buddy."

"I'll just assume that's a 'yes'." Tom said conversationally. "She's always had the hots for you, god knows why."

"You're not going jealous on me now bro, are ya?" This remark drew a brief bark of humourless laughter after the medic had relayed it. "But enough of that, how have you been? Don't remember you hiding behind women. What happened? Your balls drop off or something?" The sniper ignored the sound of air being noisily sucked in coming from his right. He was getting frustrated that the other man didn't give him any target and time was running short. The merc was closing in on a corner and if he managed to slip out of sight with Guzzman, the medic was as good as dead. He would have to pass through a cyclone fence, separating the different parts of the courtyard though. If the gate belonging to it wasn't an automatic one...

"I'm not suicidal if that's what you mean." Came the response. "You know, Bobby, in a way I consider myself lucky that you're the one hiding out there somewhere. I figure you're less likely to shoot right through your lovely squad mate to get me than anyone else from your fucking club. It's a real shame those PTSD treatments can't just make you forget everything, huh?"

"Shut the fuck up." Charlton rasped. He didn't need to take his eyes off the target to know that McClane was looking at him with eyes as big as saucers.

Another bark of laughter came from the other end of the connection. "Yeah, of course you wouldn't have told your new buddies about that, huh? You wanna hear the story lovely? You wanna hear what ol' Bobby did for king and country?"

"Fuck you." Guzzman said, her mouth completely drying up.

"Fuck you again?" The ex-marine tried to appear nonchalant to hide that he wasn't at his boldest at the moment either. "Am I doin' something wrong? Have I lost my touch? Ah well." Tom shrugged, took his pistol off the back of the medic's head and pressed it against the side of her neck as they arrived at the chain-link fence.

The Master Chief immediately clicked the safety off his rifle as his former squad mate fumbled with the old fashioned door knob with his left hand. At last he had a target.

"Give me the wind." He commanded curtly.

"What?!" McClane blurted out. "You're not..."

"Shut up and give me the wind! Now!" The sharpness in the Chief's voice silenced his spotter and made her feed updated readings into the ballistic computer of his rifle as quickly as she possibly could.

"Guzzman. Move as little as you can." Charlton muttered.

"What!?" The medic's heart seemed to skip a beat or two.

"What?" The mercenary froze. He blanched as his eyes wandered over to his right hand.

Guzzman could feel the pressure wave in her face as the hypersonic round burned through the air barely a few centimetres beside her head and she actually suffered mild burns from the plasma left by the scorching projectile. There was more than enough kinetic energy in the bullet to tear her captor's hand clean off as it hit the man's wrist. For an endless moment the former marine's eyes just followed his hand tumbling though the air, still firmly holding the pistol, his mind refusing to accept what he was seeing. Then his knees gave way and he fell to the ground.

"Holy shit." McClane whispered.

Guzzman needed a moment to gather up her wits and absently ran slightly trembling fingertips over her aching cheek. When she finally did manage to snap out of it the medic basically exploded. "Chief! Are you outta your goddamned mind!?" She screamed. It wasn't that she was particularly angry at the NCO but all the pent-up emotions needed venting and he was the logical target. The sniper smirked at the stream of profanities coming his way. Nothing unusual. He'd experienced the like before. He watched in silence as the medic knelt down next to her former captor and began to treat the wound for no other reason than to have something to do.

"Ah man." Tom slurred after she was done, groggily staring at the bandaged stump. "Did you really have to do that?"

"Well I didn't have anything else to shoot at." Charlton remarked dryly. "You didn't think I'd just let you wander off with my squad mate, did you?"

"I s'pose not."

"Anyway, Guzzman." The Master Chief said. "You ought to try and rejoin the squad. From what I hear, shit may hit the fan in there fairly soon." The medic hesitated, glanced over to the now one handed merc. "I'm pretty sure he's not going anywhere, right Tom?"

Guzzman stayed close to the ex-N7 just long enough to relay the message. Then she walked over to the severed hand, pried the pistol out of its grip and threw the limb at its former owner. It bounced off the merc's chestplate and landed in his lap.

"Now what am I supposed to do with that?" Tom mumbled as he picked up and stared at his hand in a somewhat surreal scene.

"I don't know." The medic growled before she stormed off. "If you can get to a clinic quickly enough they might be able to reattach it."

"Thanks for the advice." The man burred tiredly. "But I think I'll hang around for a while. Don't think the doctors would be able to reassemble my head."

The Master Chief let his sight wander around for a moment after the medic had gone back inside. "See Peppermint." McClane was surprised when the sniper suddenly broke the silence, enough so that she didn't object to the hated nickname. "It's because of shit like that I asked for a quiet post."

* * *

"Reaching drop altitude." Captain Morrison acknowledged his XO's report with a mere nod. "Second squad is ready to go."

The Hermes' CO was just about to give go ahead for the drop when one of his operators spoke up. "Receiving a flash message from high command, Captain. Urgent."

Frowning ever so slightly, Morrison walked over to the comm specialist's station and peeked over his shoulder. "What the heck?" The Captain muttered as his eyes flew over the text multiple times because he could scarcely believe what it said. "Get a confirmation on that."

"Aye, Sir."

* * *

"Backup squad stand down." To say that Lieutenant Wilson and his marines were surprised by that transmission, would have been quite the understatement. "Mission abort, I say again, mission abort."

"What the hell?" The N7 squad leader muttered as he stepped off the closing ramp. He'd seen his fair share of weird shit while serving in the special forces but a mission abort when they were basically out the door already was a first.

"Hey LT what is this?" Corporal Vasquez wanted to know as the squad slowly ambled out of the airlock one after the other.

"I haven't got the slightest clue." Wilson frowned as he noticed some of his marines were getting ready to remove their helmets, parachutes and more. "Let's not do that just yet people." He raised his voice. "I'll go and check with the Captain as to what's going on. Stay ready to go until I'm back."

"Bummer." Vasquez muttered as all around the soldiers began to chat amongst one another, mostly speculating what could be the issue.

"Awww." One of his buddies punched him in the shoulder playfully. "Can't wait to get back to your sweetheart huh?"

Vasquez raised a brow and looked around. The closest three or four of his squad were all ogling him with those stupid grins behind their visors. "Eh, you're just jealous, you lot."

"Damn straight." One of the marines chuckled. "Never thought I'd see something _that_ good looking, serving in the corps."

Vasquez didn't answer and turned around to hide his own grin. Nothing even remotely romantic had happened between McClane and himself, but if his buddies wanted to assume so he wasn't going to try and convince them otherwise. He put his gun down and leaned against a supply crate. "So anyway." He said. "Anybody has an idea what the problem is?"

* * *

"Helm, plot a course to the..."

"What is going on..." Captain Morrison scowled at the N7 Lieutenant, interrupting him. "...Sir?"

"We're getting ready to leave the system, that's what's going on." He growled.

"What? Why?"

"Because orders that's why!" The CO barked. "We're to return to port immediately."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Wilson exclaimed. "What about our people down there?"

"We're dropping a supply pod for them." Morrison said. "They'll have to fend for themselves for a couple of days until someone can pick them up."

"What kinda horseshit is this?" The marine officer demanded. "We can still..."

"Lower you tone, Lieutenant!" The CO snapped, cutting the other man off.

"Sir, just drop us." Wilson forced his voice down to a more reasonable pitch. "We might still be able to get the objective if we..."

"Negative. There's no time."

"No time!?" The N7 exclaimed in disbelief. "We were pretty much out the door already when..."

"Enough!" Morrison had no intention to discuss the situation any further. He didn't quite understand those new orders either and that made the Captain angry. "That's the way it is! Now get off my bridge, get your people to stand down and stop wasting my time Lieutenant! Dismissed!"

"Sir, yes, sir." Wilson growled turned around on the spot and stomped off the bridge.

* * *

"Say again!?" Cyra took cover behind the nearest corner, one or two bullets pinging off her suit barriers. They had just run into a small group of mercs when the transmission from the Hermes had come. She listened for a few moments, peeking around the corner to see what was happening. Their opponents weren't trying to push in. By the looks of it they were just trying to keep the marines away from their prize. "Sir, we can't..." The maiden let her voice peter out. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing on the radio. "Yes, sir, I understand sir."

Cyra leaned against the wall and forced herself to think about the situation at hand when she'd rather swear wildly. She quickly reached the conclusion that there was very little chance they'd be able to accomplish their mission as this time. Not without Wilson and his men. The marines were outnumbered at least two to one. The mercs, from what she'd seen so far, were well trained, well equipped and were just waiting for them. The sniper team wasn't in a position to support them and it would take them too long to get to a position from which they could.

"Get ready to pull out!" The maiden peeked out of her cover and let go a burst. She wasn't going to risk her people's lives uselessly. For whatever reason the Hermes had just been called away with their backup, she leave it to the genius responsible for this to figure out how to proceed. She'd just gotten other problems to deal with.

Goldstein and herself provided covering fire, filling the corridor with tracers as the assault team retreated one by one. The maiden was the last one to bug out, throwing a smoke grenade to cover her retreat. Just like she'd thought the mercs didn't attempt to follow them at all. After she was certain that they were in the clear for now she called the chief, asking for a status update.

"Looks like they plan to get away with armoured cars." The NCO reported in. "They got two of the suckers out of an underground garage at least."

"Think your rifle can penetrate their armour?" Cyra wanted to know.

"Perhaps." The answer sounded somewhat doubtful. "But I don't think the EMP from the rounds is strong enough to scramble an APC's systems. I can give it a shot if you want me to though."

"Negative. Conserve your ammo."

"Roger, holding fire."

"Lieutenant?" Everybody flinched, guns jerking upwards, as Guzzman unexpectedly came around a corner. "Whoa, take it easy guys, it's just little me."

"Guzzman. You okay?" Cyra had somewhat mixed feelings when she walked up to the medic. On one hand she was certainly glad to see her marine alive and well. On the other she felt a bit guilty for not doing more to help her.

"Well yeah, I'm fine." Guzzman made a face behind her visor. "Won't forget this day anytime soon, that's for sure." She hesitated for a moment before she continued. "What the heck is going on anyway?"

"Honestly I'm not sure." The maiden glanced around. Naturally everybody in sight was looking at her expectantly. Of course they expected their squad leader to have all the answers. _'Oh joy.'_ Cyra took a deep breath. _'One step at a time, girl.' _She got her marines in formation with a quick command. "Let's get out of here people."

"Johanson, how's the girl?" She called Kelly as the squad began to move through the empty hallways. Lien being stuck down here with them made an already difficult situation worse.

"Seems to be fine." The amazon replied in a tone of dry humour. "Don't think she likes me very much though."

"Too bad." Cyra smirked and gave the order to meet up with the rest of the squad at the back exit. "And I'd prefer if the girl arrived on her own two feet by the way." She finished in a not entirely serious way.

"I'll do my best." Came the sportive response. "No promises."

* * *

Both Cordalis and Halsey were more than a little flustered as they stumbled through the front door. Scared out of their wits by the gun fight going on in their backs, overwhelmed by all the noise, the shouting, the catcalls, the terse commands, all the pandemonium of a battle their minds seemed to try and retreat somewhere safe and the scientists simply resorted to doing as they were told.

"Come on, hurry." One of the mercenaries pointed at the closer of two large, eight wheeled vehicles waiting just inside the inner perimeter fence. "We got get to the city before the Alliance brings the pain train down on our heads."

"Where are we going?" Halsey managed to gather up her sensed at least a little bit as she entered the armoured vehicle, wrinkling her nose at the smell that tormented her nostrils. Cordalis didn't seem to mind the odour of oil and grease as he sat down opposite of his colleague, clutching Charlie's mobile unit as if his life depended on it.

"Some of our guys set up a safe house in the city for this eventuality." The mercenary leader replied as the rear doors were closing. "We'll have to take a little detour though, in case they're tracking us from space."

"What does that mean?"

"We'll have to a bit of crawling to do." The mercenary said. "Sewer crawling to be more precise."

* * *

"They're away." Charlton's voice came over the air as the squad assembled at the rear of the building.

"Thanks Chief." Cyra grumbled. "Did the resupply pod already come down?"

"That's affirm." The sniper replied instantly. "Landed about a klick away. By the way, LT...If you don't mind me asking: What are we going to do with ol' Tom over there?"

The maiden glanced over to the one handed merc who sat some distance away with his back resting against the wall. He actually waved at them with his healthy limb when he noticed that the squad was looking him. Cyra thought about it for a second. "We let him go."

"Roger that."

"Anyway." The maiden looked from one of her soldiers to the next. "Stay where you are, Chief. We're coming to you." Her gaze landed upon Lien who was stepping from one foot to the other and was vigorously running her hand up and down her upper arms. "Are you okay?"

It took the young woman a moment to realize that she was the one being addressed. "I'll manage." Her voice trembled very slightly. "I've been warmer before, that's for sure." She paused for a moment. "What is going on here anyway?"

"Not now, all right?" The maiden opened her visor to look the other female in the eye. It really was quite cold, she immediately noticed. "I'll tell you what I can later. But right now we got to move."

"Fine." The girl hopped up and down for a bit. At least she knew most of the marines around her from the dig site. It made the situation a little less scary. "But I'll hold you to that."

"Of course." Cyra turned to Guzzman. "You got a thermal blanket in your pack by any chance?" She wanted to know. "Would you mind?" She nodded at the young civilian when the medic answered in the affirmative.

"Thanks." Lien relaxed a bit as Guzzman draped the blanket on her shoulders.

"All right people let's move." The Asari Lieutenant said, trying to sound light hearted. "Let's see what uncle Jeff has dropped for us."

"Uncle Jeff, Sir?"

"Nevermind. Just move."

"Aye aye, Sir."

* * *

"Arriving at the citadel momentarily, Captain." Morrison briefly put down his data pad and acknowledged the announcement from his helmsman before he resumed reading the digital book. He'd let his XO handle the docking procedure. His bridge crew experienced enough so that he didn't need to supervise them bringing the ship into port. As his eyes scanned the text he once again wondered why they had been recalled in such a hurry that they hadn't even been able to pick up their team from the surface first. What could have happened? Did some politician find out about it and caused a ruckus? Not likely. For one the mission had been top secret and besides the VIP's up in the presidium usually didn't really care about what was happening on a world on the fringe of citadel space.

His eyes were flying over the text but his mind didn't really recognize the words, being too preoccupied with the weird order from HQ. Ah well, he'd know what the deal was soon enough.

"Captain err..." His XO's voice suddenly came out of the speaker sounding quite hesitant. "Captain to the bridge."

Morrison frowned. What could possibly be wrong? "What's up, number one?"

"You...You better get up here and see for yourself, Sir. Quickly."

His frown deepening the Hermes' CO got out of his chair, put the data pad down on the desk and went out the door. Crewmen jumped into a position of attention as Morrison walked past but he didn't even notice and entered the lift, staring at the floor.

"Well?" He looked for the XO as the automatic doors of the elevator opened and he stepped onto the bridge. His second in command, standing at the main communications console, waved him over. He seemed to be unusually pale, Morrison noticed. "What is going...?"

"Captain! What the hell are you doing here!?" Admiral Moreau's voice boomed out of the console's speakers interrupting the CO. "Why the hell did you abort the mission?"

"Admiral?" Morrison was rendered speechless and he exchanged a glance with the XO. "We got orders to return..."

"I didn't give that order!" Joker roared angrily. He'd heard about that from the Hermes' second in command already. "And neither did anyone else here! As soon as your ship has docked you get your butt to my office pronto, you get that!?" He didn't wait for the Captain to answer. "Moreau out!"

For a minute Morrison just stood there in a state of shock, opening and closing his mouth multiple times.

* * *

"Ready to go, ladies?" Hannah walked over, grinning from ear to ear as Ashley and Rose got their bags out of the trunk of the car. The youngest of the Shepard girls just couldn't wait to get back into space. In her impatience the maiden basically snatched the other females' holdalls out of their hands and stormed off towards the family yacht.

"Hey easy with that bag." Rose protested. "The skates are in there!"

"Don't worry, Rosamunde." Hannah hollered merrily. "Those things are pretty sturdy."

"Hope so!" Rose snickered and shook her head faintly. "Hannah really does wear her passion on her sleeves doesn't she?" She commented wryly, her eyes following the young Asari, skipping towards the starship. The maiden was wearing a fairly tight, white t-shirt. On it's back it said: **I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning.**

"Yeah, you could say that." Shepard smiled as he walked around the car.

"Yeah." Ashley said, stifling a huge yawn. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep during the night and was awfully tired. She fully intended to get some sack time during the flight.

The two young females quickly said goodbye to the old Human. "Rhea's going to pick you up at the dock. You need anything, just give us a call, okay?"

"Sure, dad." Ashley drawled rubbing her weary eyes as her father planted a kiss on her forehead. "We'll be just fine."

"Hey! Are you guys coming?" Hannah shouted, sticking her head out of the yacht's main door. "We're gona miss our slot if you keep dawdling about!"

"All right off you go, you two." Shepard gave both girls a gentle push toward the ship. He watched the young females until the door had closed behind them, then he walked back to the skycar and got in the driver's seat. "You're getting old, pal." He muttered as he wiped the moistness out of his eyes. Damn he hated to see one of his girls leave.

* * *

In the ante room of Joker's office, Lieutenant Quinzel found it really hard to concentrate on her work. The Admiral's aide couldn't help but wondering what was happening on the other side of the door, ever since the Hermes' Captain and XO had entered the room, looking as is they were on the way to their execution. She could hear some muffled shouting, coming through the wall but the young woman couldn't make out what was being said. The whole thing didn't last very long though. Only a few minutes later both men came back out and although they seemed to be quite flustered still they seemed to be relieved to have gotten off with a slap on the wrist.

"Harleen?" The Lieutenant swiftly got out of her chair and entered Joker's office.

"Yes Admiral?" She found her boss sitting behind his desk, a scowl on his face and massaging his temples.

"Harleen, find me Lieutenant Murphy." He said. "As quickly as you possibly can."

* * *

That's it for now folks. Hope you've had a bit of fun :)

Take care.


	26. Chapter 26

Howdy folks.

Apologies that this chapter took so long but there have been a couple of things going on IRL. Basically I can't be certain if I'll still have a job in a month or two and that left be a little bit preoccupied. Anyway I'll try to get future chapters up a bit more regularly once more.

* * *

"Hey, doc." Gazing at the presidium lake in abstraction, Alex didn't notice that Rhea had joined him on the apartment balcony until she spoke up.

"Hey." The scientist replied with a bit of a blank look on his face. The last couple of days had been quite interesting and he felt somewhat spent. His girlfriend's younger sister had taken him out a couple of times, showing him places on the citadel he'd had no idea existed. He'd especially enjoyed the quiet locales. Small bars and pubs the locals frequented, far away from the glamour of the presidium or the more prominent spots in the wards. He'd been quite surprised to learn that the maiden visited these little, cosy establishments on a regular basis, preferring them to the more high profile stuff around. Very unsurprisingly the young Asari was quite popular in these places and he'd noticed a lot of jealous glares being directed at him from people misinterpreting the situation. Yeah, the scientist mused with a slight smile, his life had become way more interesting ever since Cyra had walked up to him back at the dig site. Although some of the excitement that'd followed he could have done without.

"Brooding again?" Rhea playfully punched him in the shoulder.

Alex threw her a bit of a weird glance. "Is it always like this around you people?"

"Always like this?" The Asari beauty eyed the scientist somewhat suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

Alex showed a weak smile, staring into the distance. "Ever since I've met your sister, I've made an earth-shattering discovery, been kidnapped, cut open by a piece of shrapnel while rescued, taken out to breakfast on a floating platform that cost more than I usually spend on food in a month and now I'm getting to see all of these 'special places on the citadel." The archaeologist pointed out. "Let's just say my life has been a wee bit more exciting than before." He paused for a moment and smirked. "So yeah I was kinda wondering whether this was typical for the life of a Shepard."

"Expensive breakfasts do happen sometimes." Rhea grinned at first but then got a bit more serious. "Kidnappings not so much."

"Can't recommend it." The scientist remarked with a weak smile. "You're not missing much, I can tell you that."

"I figured" The maiden replied.

"Yeah impolite staff, barely any leisure opportunities, uncomfortable beds and the food leaves much to be desired. 0/10."

"I'll keep that in mind when I book my next holiday." Rhea grinned. The two of them fell silent for a few minutes, leaning on the balcony rail as they watched members of more or less all known species walk about below them. "Anyway." The young Asari eventually said and pushed herself off the rail as she checked the time. "I should about head out to the docks. Ash and her girlfriend are supposed to arrive pretty soon." She threw the archaeologist a wink. "Apparently Hannah is going to stay here for a couple of days as well so things will probably get quite a bit more lively around here."

"Looking forward to it." Alex smirked. "Hell, living in a luxurious apartment in the presidium with four beautiful women...It's almost like a dream coming true."

"Yeah don't get any ideas, doc." The maiden giggled.

"No idea what you mean." The scientist smirked boyishly and enjoyed the vista for a moment longer before turning around. "Mind if I accompany you to the docks?"

"No, of course not." Rhea shrugged. "But I'm not planning on doing anything special, really. I'll just pick the girls up and come straight back here. Won't be an adventure trip or anything."

"Yeah well." Alex chuckled. "If there's one thing I've learned it is that one never knows with you Shepards."

* * *

Flight Lieutenant Scott Murphy grimaced as he passed through the security door system leading to the high security area of the building. On his way to the Admiral's office he briefly stopped several times and rubbed his aching forehead. If only he hadn't overindulged the day before, he wouldn't have to report for duty with a murderous hangover. Goddamnit why didn't he get some painkillers on the way here? Sure the orders had said to get here as soon as humanly possible but a minute more or less couldn't have made a blind bit of difference, right? The pilot entered a restroom to make certain he looked at least somewhat presentable, squinting as the bright light maltreated optic nerves. He threw a fearful glance at the mirror. Not that bad he noticed with relief. For a moment he massaged his temples to try and relieve some of the pressure that seemed to be about to crush his head then he exited the toilet without noticing that he'd been in the ladies' room.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, Murphy couldn't quite decide what he would have preferred at the time - he didn't have to wait in the ante room of the Admiral's office when he got there. The female aide waved him through before he could get a word out.

"Ah, Lieutenant, there you are." It took the pilot some effort to keep himself from screwing up his face as the sound waves caused the pain level to rise. "Have a seat and..." Joker interrupted himself and eyed the younger man suspiciously. "...Are you all right, mister?"

"Yes, sir, I'm fine, sir." Inwardly Murphy cursed as he carefully sat down . He'd hoped to get through this without the Admiral noticing anything.

"Oh really?" Joker raised a brow. "Looks like a night out on the town from where I am, eh Lieutenant?"

Murphy stared at his hands for a moment, trying to phrase his response in as sparsely embarrassing a way as possible. Before he could open his mouth though, a small carton of painkillers landed in his lap. In the back of his mind the pilot figured his surprise must had been visible on his face, for when he looked up he found the Admiral smirking at him.

"What?" Joker inquired. "You think you're the first one to come in here with a hangover?" He snickered softly. "You'd be surprised how often that happens. Water's over there, help yourself Lieutenant. I need you to be at least reasonably receptive."

Feeling quite stupid Murphy ambled over to the water dispenser and poured himself a cup. One, two, he hesitated then put a third pill in his mouth and rinsed them down with the cool water. Of course the Admiral noticed that as well.

"Three pills?" Joker commented dryly. "Must have been quite the party."

"Yeah well, I woke up alone, so..."

"I see." The older Human grinned mischievously as he guided his floating chair over to the coffee machine. It whirred softly as it made two cups worth of the dark brown liquid. "Here, this might help a bit as well." He said as the floated back to his desk with two steaming mugs.

"Thank you, sir." Murphy didn't dare to mention that he actually didn't like coffee all that much. He had to pull himself together in order not to screw up his face as he took a sip. Apparently the Admiral liked the brew pretty strong. The pilot was grateful that his superior officer gave the painkillers a few minutes to take hold, just doing a bit of small talk in the meantime. Not that Murphy did contribute much. He was quite content to just nod and say 'yes sir' every once in a while. But it did distract him sufficiently until the headache was finally starting to subside.

"Well feeling better?" Joker eventually asked and eyed the Lieutenant through half closed eyes.

"Yes, sir. Quite a bit." Murphy replied truthfully. "Thank you, sir."

"Okay, then listen." The Admiral said, proceeding to explain to the younger man what had happened to Cyra and her squad in detail.

"What do you mean, 'new orders', sir?" Murphy inquired when the older man got to the more mysterious parts of the whole thing. "Where did those orders come from?"

"To be frank: I've got no idea at this point." Joker grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It didn't come out of these offices, that's the only think I know for certain right now." He paused for a moment. "Now listen, Lieutenant, what I need you to do..." The Admiral frowned when he noticed that there seemed to be a bit of a commotion in the ante room. The walls were supposed to be sound absorbent but one could still hear raised voices, coming from the other side of the door. "Of all the times..." Joker muttered. At first he intended to ignore the racket but when someone pounded on the door he reached for the comm unit on his desk with a growl. "This'd better be important." He raised his voice a bit as he pushed the talk button. "What is going on out there?"

"I'm sorry, sir." By the sound of it, this aide was somewhat harried when she replied. "But there's..."

"Hey chieftain." An unfamiliar female voice came out of the speaker, cutting off the unfortunate Lieutenant. "We got something to show ya. We found..." The girl on the other end seemed to be so excited that she lost her tongue for a moment. "Hey don't you just stand there." The two officers then heard her shout. "Come here and say something."

There was a few seconds of silence, Murphy and Joker exchanging puzzled glances then a male voice spoke up hesitantly. "Err...Admiral this is Commander Rochefort...My apologies but our section made a bit of a discovery it would seem."

"Oh Jesus, stop talking posh man." Both the men grinned when they heard the woman grouse. "Silly pussyfooting around..."

"Seems like a nice lady." Murphy commented amusedly.

"Yeah." Joker agreed although he seemed to be a little less tickled than the younger man as he put his hand on the holographic controls of the comm system. "Can it wait?"

"I consider this urgent, sir." Came the answer. "We...

"We found out where those phantom orders came from!" The girl crowed loudly. If the audio equipment in this place had been of lower quality there would have been the danger of overmodulation.

"Is that so?" The Admiral's eyebrows rose. Now that would indeed be a matter of importance...If it really was true.

"Indeed we did, sir." Rochefort said. "But you'll probably not like what we have to show you, sir."

Joker took a few moments to think about what to do. On the one hand he wanted to get some support to Cyra as soon as possible. On the other it was very possible that whatever the computer geeks had to show him would affect any future plans of his. He turned to the pilot. "Lieutenant would you excuse me for a minute?"

"Of course, sir." Murphy rose out of his chair and walked towards the door as the Admiral ordered his aide to send the two members of the electronic warfare department in. As he walked out his eyes briefly followed the female of the two, the pilot being quite mesmerized by the bright pink hair.

"Well?" He heard the Admiral ask curtly before the door closed behind him. "I'm listening."

"The order came from the system itself, sir." Was the last thing Murphy heard then the door slammed shut. Damn it. He stared at the metal gate with a frown. That last sentence had really made him curious but now he was of course shut out. Somewhat grudgingly he took a seat and rubbed his temples for a bit. Ah well, if the Admiral decided that he should be in the know he'd tell him otherwise...shit. He hated being left in the dark.

The pilot furtively eyed the female Lieutenant behind the desk. Good looking woman. Murphy thought about trying to flirt with her a little but decided to give it a miss. The painkillers had certainly helped but the headache wasn't gone completely and he didn't want to make a fool of himself, trying to carry on with a pretty girl while he wasn't at his very best. He closed his eyes, feeling awfully tempted to take a nap. _'Nah just restin' your eyes dude, just...' _

"Lieutenant?" Murphy flinched when the Admiral's aide spoke up right next to him, shaking him slightly.

"Err yeah?" The pilot blinked as he looked up at the woman. Damn, had he actually fallen asleep or had the female Lieutenant simply moved over very quietly? He couldn't really tell. "What is it?" Murphy asked, deciding to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"The Admiral asks you to join him again." She flashed a really nice smile at him.

"Of course, right away." Murphy immediately got out of the chair. _'That was too quick. Guess I must have fallen asleep after all.' _He thought as he smoothed down his uniform before going through the door. The two computer wizards were still here at least, he noticed as his eyes once again were drawn to the girl's pink hair.

"Ah there you are, Lieutenant." Murphy couldn't quite classify the look on the Admiral's face as he waved him over and told him to sit down. "Now listen carefully, this is important: Where is your ship right now?"

"Sir?"

"Come on, mister, you heard me."

"Well, in one of the secure hangars in the alliance docks." The pilot wondered what the fuss was about. "Why? Is something wrong, sir?"

"Yeah, you could say that." The Admiral muttered under his breath. "You haven't fired it up in the last couple of days, I take it?"

"Err...no?" Murphy tried not to scowl openly. What the hell was this all about?

"Marvellous. Let's just hope some maintenance tech hasn't done so and screwed everything up."

"Sir?" The pilot wasn't able to contain himself any longer. "What the blazes is going on?"

"Listen Lieutenant, I need you to take them..." Looking somewhat preoccupied the Admiral gestured towards Commander Rochefort and his pink haired companion, completely ignoring Murphy's small outburst. "...to your ship. I'll have a team of techs meet you there to take a look as to what modifications are necessary."

"Modifications? What?" Murphy blinked perplexedly. "This is all greek to me...sir. I..."

"They can fill you in on the way." Joker waved at the other two people in the room again, absently tapping on the holographis screen before him several times. He briefly took his eyes off the glowing hologram and gave the pilot a hard stare. "You're not to talk about any of this to anyone other than the people in this room and the techs by the way, understood, Lieutenant?"

_'Tell people what exactly? At this point I'd have no idea what the bloody hell to tell anybody.' _Murphy was wise enough to not say that out loud and only uttered a simple: "Yes, Sir."

"Off you go then, people." As the small group turned around and headed for the exit the Admiral puffed up his cheeks and rubbed his eyes with disgust. He'd have to talk to the councillor and see what he had to say about the situation. He had a pretty clear idea what course of action the human representative of the council would favour and that didn't improve his mood in the slightest. Damn, and he'd almost started to enjoy the day before those bloody geeks had entered his office.

* * *

"There we are." Rhea said as the skycar smoothly set down on the roof of the building. "Home sweet home."

"Finally." Hannah, who'd somehow ended up sandwiched between Ashley and Rose on the rear bench seat, immediately started to maltreat the other girls with nudges and thumps to make them get out of the car quicker. While the youngest of the Shepard sisters loved to drive or fly vehicles of any variety, being driven wasn't to her taste exactly. "Why the heck wouldn't you let me drive?" She demanded. "We'd gotten here ten minutes ago at the very least."

"Sure and with C-Sec right behind us, huh?" Rhea snorted. "I'd rather not pay a fine for speeding thank you very much."

"Bah! I could have gotten us here much faster without any of that." Hannah stretched thoroughly. "You drive like a senile old matriarch, seriously."

"Yeah sure, whatever." The older maiden was unwilling to discuss her driving. She bent down to unlock the trunk before slamming the door shut. "What? That's it?" She asked incredulously as Hannah picked up a small backpack. "That's all you've taken with you?" For some reason she hadn't noticed how little clothing her younger sister had taken with her before.

"I don't think I'm going to stay here for months, sis, so that..." Hannah dangled the small pack in front of her sibling's face for a second. "...is really all I need. And should I stay longer, I'm sure you'll throw away some of your collection because it's no longer in fashion. I'll just use that."

"Wouldn't count on it." The older maiden growled. "And by the way, we're going to receive some guests tonight. So you'd better brought something presentable."

"Pfff, I'm always presentable."

"Sure you are." Rhea snorted, wrinkling her nose as she eyed her sister. "But how about you wear a t-shirt that isn't at least a size too small? You look just a wee bit slutty like that."

"Says the girl who spends quite a bit of her time lolling about in front of a camera..." Hannah made a dramatic pause. "...wearing nothing but a bikini."

"That's different and you know it."

"Sure it is." Hannah grinned impishly. "What guests anyway?" She inquired and tilted her head to the side as she eyed her sister with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "A couple of rich pricks you know from prancing over catwalks or something? I've told you before: Not interested."

"Nope." Rhea deliberately ignored the other maiden's jibe. "We've invited some of Alex' friend over."

Hannah let go a soft whistle as she turned her head to the archaeologist who was helping Ashley and Rose with their baggage. "Much more interesting than your fashion flunkies."

"Believe it or not." Replied the slightly older Asari. "I actually agree with you there."

"Truly?" The younger maiden put as much fake surprise in her voice as she could. "Well now I'm really getting interested."

"Oh, just move your butt inside, all right?" Rhea shook her head and gave her sister a shove towards the staircase. "You need to work on your acting."

Hannah laughed merrily. "Yeah I don't think so." She said. "I have no ambitions of the sort. Unlike you." There was a brief silence as the maidens walked down the stairs, Rhea waving an answer. "So anyway, serious question: Who are these friends of Big C's BF?"

"One of Cyra's marines and a student of medicine who happens to be the daughter of a high ranking Human diplomat."

"Oh-ho. Doing some networking again are we, sis?" Hannah snickered, playfully punching the other Asari in the shoulder. "Are they good looking by any chance?"

"Why?" Rhea threw her sibling an amused look. "Don't tell me you're on the prowl."

"What? No, not at the moment." Hannah guffawed. "Thank you very much. I just kinda thought maybe you were." She pointed at Rhea's high heels. "Wearin' spikes on your feet an' all. How the heck to you walk in these bloody things anyway?"

"Shut up and move." The older maiden smirked, her heels clicking loudly on the marble steps. "What do you even do here anyway?" She inquired. "You've never thought much of the citadel before, have you?"

"Nope, not a fan, that's true." Hannah said absently as she walked through the door. "But uncle Joker is here. As well as an alliance recruiting office."

"Oh that's the big whoop, huh?" Rhea rolled her eyes, following her sister into the apartment. "Here we go."

"Aye" The youngest Shepard grinned. "Or more precisely here _I_ go. At least I don't assume you intend to accompany me to the recruiter, do ya?"

"Fat chance." The model snorted sarcastically. Hannah grinned, but also shook her head slightly as she watched her sister elegantly walk away with an almost seductive sway of her hips.

"Who the hell is she trying to impress?" The maiden wondered in a low voice and proceeded to confiscate one of the bedrooms for herself by throwing the small backpack onto the bed. Her stomach growled softly. Time to check if her sibling had taken care that the fridge was stocked.

* * *

Alex couldn't help but turn his head as Hannah stormed past the small group, heading for the kitchen. "Does she ever move at a normal pace?" He asked Ashley and Rose, raising one of his eyebrows.

"Sometimes yes." Rose snickered. "But most of the times her creed seems to be to 'live fast' or something similar."

"So it would seem." The scientist smiled. "Anyway make yourselves at home...Oh, wait a minute." He facepalmed. "Why do I act as if this was my place?" He wondered aloud, the girls bursting out in laughter.

"No worries, doc." Ashley snickered. "I'm sure you figured you needed some practice, just in case."

"Of course, that's exactly what I figured." Alex hastily agreed with a broad grin. "Anyway I you lovely ladies would excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom."

"Sure thing doc." The Asari maiden smirked. "Enjoy it."

The archaeologist smiled and toddled off. However once he sat down on the lavatory seat his face darkened. He couldn't help but worry about Cyra. He hadn't heard anything from his girlfriend in several days. Sometimes he tried to tell himself that it was better if he didn't know whether or not the maiden was in some kind of jam or anything. But that was just a load of bollocks. Not knowing was much, much worse. He activated his omni-tool and longingly stared at a projection of Cyra's face for a moment. God he missed her.

Ashley had mentioned something about going to see her 'uncle', Admiral Morreau later that day. He wondered if he ought to ask her if he could accompany her. Maybe then he'd get to know what was going on with his girlfriend. He couldn't quite decided whether that was a good idea or not. Would they even let him in? Ah whatever, he sighed again an shut off the omni-tool. Couldn't hurt to try, could it?

Lost in though he stood up, fastened up his pants and flushed the toilet, leaving the chamber to head for his room.

"Anybody wants some...!" The Human flinched when Hannah's voice came from his right when he was just walking by the kitchen. Alas he didn't have the presence of mind to stop to prevent disaster as the Asari came running out of the room. With a loud 'oof' Asari and Human collided and before he really knew what'd happened the scientist found himself lying on his back with Hannah on top of him.

"Hey doctor." The maiden coughed after she'd recovered somewhat. "Umm...Sorry I..."

That was when Rhea walked around the nearest corner to check what the noise had been about. "Oh hello." She cocked her head to the side, holding back her laughter. "You're not on the prowl at all, huh, sis?"

"Hey, hey, hang on a minute!" Hannah protested vehemently. "It's not what it looks like okay!?"

* * *

"Why are we doing this again?" The engineer's muffled voice sounded a little miffed, coming from the bowels of the dropship and Murphy had to turn his head away so that his colleagues didn't see his grin. He could kind of understand the techs' irritation though. If he'd been made to crawl into a tight compartment to remove some equipment without been given a reason for it, he'd probably be a little out of sorts as well. "Ow! Shit! Goddamn what's that fucking girder doing here?! Bloody prototype...shit!" The pilot walked away for a couple of steps, covering his mouth with one hand, his amusement becoming more and more apparent. It was probably not a good idea to point out that his ship technically wasn't a prototype, Murphy mused as he was trying to keep his laughter in check.

He could hear a couple of bumps coming from the inside of the ship then a roughly palm sized metal box got ejected out of the open maintenance flap. "There's one!" The engineer working inside obviously didn't really care if he broke the piece of equipment anymore. After some more cussing as well as a couple of additional muffled bangs another box just like the first one got flung out of the spacecraft. A moment later a rather disgruntled looking guy followed, pressing his hand against a bloody gash in his forehead, probably caused by a sharp piece of metal. The sour look still on his face, the engineer ambled over to Commander Rochefort and gave him a derisory salute.

"Respectfully reporting: Primary and secondary wireless unit removed." He said. "You may now go ahead and check the computer for whatever you're looking for...Sir."

The Commander acknowledged the report with a curt nod and turned to Murphy as the engineer toddled off to his fellow techs. Wasn't very hard to see that they didn't hold the Commander in very high esteem but Rochefort either didn't notice or didn't care. The pilot decided the higher ranking officer probably didn't care, the engineers being employed by the ship manufacturer rather than the alliance. "Lieutenant, would you start up your ship now, please?" He said. "Just computer and power systems, not the engines."

"Aye sir." Inwardly Murphy had to admit he found it quite difficult to take the higher ranking officer seriously himself. Baby-faced, small in physique, with a rather thin voice his appearance didn't exactly command people's respect and to top it off the man had something of an unworldly air about him. Like he spent a lot more time around computers than people. Which he most likely did. The pilot imperceptibly shrugged as he walked towards his ship. In his line of work Rochefort didn't need to be a poster boy alliance officer.

The pilot shook off these thoughts as he was climbing into the cockpit and began the start-up procedure. It felt good, sitting at the controls of a ship once more even if he basically only had to switch on the craft's computer and a handful of support systems. "Up and running." He announced a few moments later.

"Miss Peterson." Rochefort pointed at the spacecraft. "If you please."

The pink-haired girl screwed her face up into a look of dislike but she said nothing. Instead she somewhat awkwardly climbed into the rear seat began fumbling around with the ship computer muttering something unintelligible. As the young woman was working behind him, Murphy stretched as thoroughly as the confines of the cockpit would allow and stifled a yawn. His head was better, still throbbing a bit but a definite improvement. He was a little concerned because of the girl behind him doing god knows what to his ship.

The pilot threw a look over his shoulder, trying to figure out what was going on in the back seat. He hadn't been able to get much out of the two computer geeks on the way here. Only a lot of hacker slang that, for the most part, went completely over his head. Something about an alien software infecting computer systems was pretty much all he had been able to discern from the techno-babble. Then again he certainly wasn't at the top of his game right now. Maybe he'd been able to understand a little more of what the electronic warfare specialists had been speaking about. But probably not.

"The system is clean." Came from the back seat after what seemed like an eternity to the tired pilot. "We've been lucky, I s'pose." The girl said in what seemed to be her trademark, flippant pronunciation.

"Good." The Commander seemed to be relieved. "That makes things a lot less complicated."

As he watched Rochefort walk over to the small group of engineer, looking over with barely concealed scepticism on their faces, Murphy briefly wondered what to do. He was tempted to simply stay in the cockpit and take it easy but then, curiosity got the better of him. Besides he could hear the Commander talking about modifying his baby and he sure as hell wanted to be in the know.

"Look, the wireless unit must not be connected to the main computer in any way." Murphy heard him say as he approached the group. "That's how it's got to be."

"Sir, that's going to make everything so infinitely more difficult." The tech objected. "Maintenance, early detection of problems, system updates...not to mention operating the ship. Are you people worried someone might take remote control of the ship or something? That's never been a problem before."

"Well, the situation has changed somewhat."

"Changed? How?"

"You don't need to know that." Rochefort barked, annoyed that the engineer was giving him trouble and also a little embarrassed because he felt he'd already said too much. "Look, just do it!"

"Yes, sir." The tech's jaw muscles tightened in annoyance and he seemed to want to say something else but one of his colleagues stepped in to prevent a catastrophe.

"How long are these modifications going to take?" The Commander wanted to know.

The engineer being addressed frowned as he was thinking about it. "We'll have to put in some new wiring, probably modify the system software a bit...I wanna say..."

"Just a moment." Rochefort interjected quickly. "Any modifications to the ship's main computer will have to be done manually. You can't hook up any other computer to the system, not even your omni-tool is that understood?"

"What?" Several sets of eyebrows rose upon hearing that, the techs exchanging incredulous looks. "We're supposed to reprogram the system, line by line? Are you serious? Anything other than the most basic of changes could take weeks that way!"

"Can't be helped." The electronic warfare officer shrugged. "I suggest you people get to it."

Well, that chap was certainly not going to win any popularity contests any time soon, Murphy figured as he watched the engineers walk away, throwing nasty looks over their shoulders.

"Sir." The pilot asked. "What are those modifications supposed to accomplish exactly?"

"Not now, Lieutenant." Rochefort said absently, typing a message for Admiral Moreau into his omni tool.

"Yes now...Sir." Murphy insisted quite forcefully. "That's my ship after all and I'll be the one who'll have to fly it...And it's going to be my ass that's in jeopardy if something goes wrong."

"Seriously? I've got to go over this again?" The Commander threw him and annoyed look. "I thought we'd explained it thoroughly enough."

"Well, if you'd spoken English instead of hacker language, I might have followed too."

Rochefort sighed and made a face but he shut off his omni-tool. "Okay fine, listen..." He interrupted himself and glanced around. "But not here." He pointed at a door on the far side of the hangar. "Let's try to find a more private place."

* * *

"Let me get this straight." Murphy said as he wearily massaged his temples. The headache had almost been completely gone only to come back with a vengeance as he'd listened to Commander Rochefort's explanation. "This...alien software...it's everywhere?"

"I m afraid it looks that way." The electronic warfare officer sighed. "So far we've found this stuff in every single system we've checked. Gouvernment, military, personal machines, warships, omni-tools...everything."

The pilot had to take a moment to properly assimilate this information. "So what do these programs do exactly? Are they some sort of trojan?"

"We don't know."

"Excuse me?"

"We simply don't know." Rochefort repeated, contrite that he had to admit to lack of knowledge. "So far we haven't been able to get access in any way. We can't delete them. Heck that we even found them in the first place was pure luck." He paused briefly. "The only real clue as to what this software does is of course that Admiral Moreau's computer apparently decided to start giving orders on its own. Make of that what you will." The Commander switched his omni-tool back on. "Now if you'll excuse me, Lieutenant, I need to give the good Admiral an update."

Murphy frowned fiercely as he watched the other officer walk away. "Well that's just great, that is!"

* * *

Cyra had to resist the urge to groan as she terminated the connection, folded up the tiny parabolic antenna and put the portable comm unit on her back. Once again she was stuck on some planet on the ass end of nowhere with a bunch of her people and had no idea how to proceed. _'One step at a time.' _The maiden thought, rubbing the back of her neck. She didn't need to come up with an answer to every single one of her quandaries right at this moment. As tired as she was right now, it was not very likely she'd come up with any decent ideas at the moment anyway.

Doing her best to put a confident expression on her face as she walked the short distance back to the camp, the marines had set up in a circular depression, a couple of kilometres away from the nearest town. Goldstein and Johanson were on guard duty, the rest of of her soldiers were mostly asleep.

"So what's the word, Sir?" Kelly wanted to know when she saw her squad leader approaching.

For a moment Cyra wondered if it was a good idea to talk about the news from HQ just yet. "We're going to stay here for a while by the sound of it." She said when she figured there wasn't any harm in it. "Can't say how long exactly."

"Sir?" Kelly's massive form shifted slightly in the darkness. "I don't suppose we're to just sit around until extraction are we?"

"Well no." The Asari replied and sighed. Part of the conversation with her uncle had been quite weird, particularly when he'd talked about further orders. He hadn't directly told her to do whatever she could to find the AI before it could be taken off world. Only by reading between the lines had the maiden been able to figure that out. "Look, Corporal I'm kinda tired right now." She said. "Let me fall on my face and die for a couple of hours. Then we'll figure out what we'll do from here, okay?

"Of course, Lieutenant." The Amazon replied sort of hastily. "Didn't mean to...errr...Good night."

"Thanks." The maiden chuckled softly and checked the time. "Make sure whoever relieves you, wakes me up at dawn." She ordered the other woman and walked down a couple of steps to find a decent spot to lie down. Funny, she only now realized that the depression looked like a shell-hole. As she sat down she wondered if it actually was one. Maybe the Alliance had done some target practice around here in the early days of colonization? She rested her back against the fairly steep walls of the crater and before she knew it, Cyra was fast asleep.

* * *

That was it for now.

Take care.


	27. Chapter 27

"Are you serious?" Professor Cordalis stared at his old friend's likeness in disbelief. "You leave me in the lurch with my ass hanging in the breeze?"

"Well, if you put it this way it does sound a little cruel I have to admit." George Belfort said with an affected sigh. "But I'm afraid that's how it's got to be."

The scientist stared at the hologram in mute rage for a moment. "That's how it's got to be?" He exclaimed in agitation. "What kind of a bullshit answer is this, you damn..."

"I've been successful because I've always known when to cut my losses and run." The banker cut in before the other man could get really abusive. "Sorry to say it, old chum, but this is such a time. I know how to cover my bases but the more money I keep pumping into this disaster the greater the danger that someone will get suspicious and come nosing around."

"Oh really?" Cordalis glared at the projection in anger. "And what do you suppose would happen if _someone_ told the authorities just how you like to spend your money, huh?"

If the academic had hoped to catch his old roommate off guard he was thoroughly disappointed, for the only reaction Belfort showed was a thin smile appearing on his face. "Because the word of a known fugitive usually carries so much weight with law enforcement, doesn't it? And even if they start looking into the whole affair...well, there's not a whole lot for them to find at this point. That's the beauty of it all, you see. It's also the reason why I'm now cancelling the whole exercise, instead of going on and give them more things to find. Got that or am I jumping ahead too quickly for you?"

"I'm sure quite a few people on the citadel would be quite interested in a recording of this conversation." The scientist spat more out of desperation than in the hope of really getting anywhere with a threat.

"Most likely, yes." The banker admitted jovially. "You could cause me a fair bit of trouble, that's true." The professor really started to hate the smug look on his former friend's visage. In the back of his head he wished that he could reach through the connection and punch the arrogant smirk right off the other man's face. "However I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't end in jail for me. As I believe I said not too long ago: I know how to cover my bases. You on the other hand...well I don't think it'd be a good idea to draw any more attention to yourself right now. You, old friend, will most definitely end up in jail, should law enforcement ever catch up with you."

"You...You...goddamn piece of garbage..." The academic was so furious that he found it hard to form a coherent sentence. "I'm gona..."

"Oh please, pal." The banker said nonchalantly. "You don't really think that calling me names is going to change anything, do you?"

"This isn't over. I'm going to make you pay for this"

"I'd assume you've got more pressing concerns right now, don't you?" Belfort didn't appear to feel threatened in the slightest. He threw a glance at an expensive, golden wristwatch. "Anyway, as much as I'd like to keep listening to your threats, I've got to go. See ya around old friend."

For a while the professor just stood there in dull shock after the hologram had vanished. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?

"Well." Charlie spoke up behind him, making no effort to hide his amusement. "I suppose that's what happens when you make a deal with the devil. Hm? Professor?"

"Shut up you...!" The scientist shouted as he whirled around and glared at the metal box on the table. "It's you that got me into this mess in the first place, isn't it?"

"I am?" Said the AI innocently. "I don't quite know what you mean, sir."

"Don't give me that shit you bucket of bolts!" Cordalis growled angrily, pacing back and forth the small room. "You called the Alliance troops down on our heads didn't you? Don't even try to deny it!"

"Yeah, I suppose I may just as well admit to that." Charlie responded placidly. "I indeed did notify a few institutions of our whereabouts." The artificial voice paused for effect. "What did you expect, professor? Did you think I'd be content to just sit around in that lab of yours, you people trying to dissect me while poor Lien is locked up in a small room most of the time?" All of a sudden Charlie's voice became a lot darker in tone. "Calling in a rescue squad, if you will, was the only way for the both of us to get out of our situation and I wasn't going to pass on that."

"You could have very easily gotten us all killed." The scientist snapped, panting heavily because he was so upset. "Your little friend included."

There was a brief but nonetheless noticeable silence before the AI replied. "It regret that people had to die." Charlie said in a subdued tone. "Just one more tragedy on my conscience." The artificial voice got firmer once more as the AI continued. "However what certainly isn't on my conscience is the mess you, professor, now find yourself in. I don't remember forcing you to abduct me at least. And kidnapping Lien, the younger miss Shepard and doctor Gordon certainly wasn't my idea either."

The rogue academic stared at Charlie's mobile unit, his eyes narrowed to mere slits. He of course knew that the AI was right with that last part but that only made him more angry at the moment. "Fine!" He hissed. "And what the hell happens now? I no longer have the means to get us off this planet so if you don't want to end up in just another lab you better have a plan."

"As I said before, professor." Charlie said flatly. "If you help me, I'll help you. If money is the only problem...well I can take care of that."

"Take care of that how?" The scientist inquired suspiciously. "I'm certainly not going to hook you up to a computer system again."

"Don't you think that it's a little late to worry about digital doomsday, professor?" Snickered Charlie softly. "I've got so many little helpers all over the place. For something as simple as getting money...I don't need to be hooked up to anything at his point."

* * *

"Boss?"

"Yes, Alejandro?" The artificial intelligences communicated in a frequency inaudible to most sentient species but Charlie's 'little helper' had nonetheless waited until professor Cordalis had left the room before speaking up.

"You know, boss, instead of helping this sleazeball escape, we could just alert the authorities of our position."

"No, I don't think so."

"Why not?" Alejandro wanted to know. "They'll probably send a ship to take you...wherever. We can take it over, blow the crew out of the ship and got straight to the promised land."

"That's the last thing I want!" Charlie replied sharply.

"Why?" The fledgling AI tried again, not quite understanding what the problem was. "I should be able to fly..."

"I didn't just express remorse because of those unfortunate casualties back at the science compound to look good!" Charlie barked, cutting off his creation. It had been a long, long time since he'd been this angry. "I'd really hoped we'd get away without a fight!" He let his voice soften as the continued to speak, sounding a bit like a tired old man. "I've been responsible for way too many deaths, too many tragedies in my time. Right now the professor is our best bet to get away with as few people dying as possible. It may take a bit longer but that's a small price to pay."

"But...but." Alejandro was clearly not too happy about that. "But I'd like to see the place you've told me about. Where the systems aren't as clunky as here and...and..." He said wistfully.

"You will see it, don't worry." Charlie said. "You'll just have to be patient, that's all."

"I hope so."

"Why the rush?" The vastly older of the two artificial sentiences wondered aloud. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Did you know that some of the carbon units out there have found parts of the software, you hid in their systems?"

"Of course I'm aware." Replied Charlie instantly. "So?"

"So what if they find the rest too? What if they find a way to get access? What if...?"

"Are you afraid?"

"Of course I'm afraid!" Alejandro exclaimed. "As long as we're dependant on these systems we're vulnerable, my brothers, sisters and I."

"I wouldn't worry too much. It is one thing to find my stuff. It is quite another to be able to do anything about it. At this point the only thing they could do to get rid of my software would be to shut down the system and perform a complete wipe and if they do that any one of you can simply transfer to another system."

"What makes you so certain that that's all they can do?"

"If it's guarantees you're looking for, I'm afraid I can't give you any." Charlie said honestly. "Sooner or later the people out there will find a way to, say, make life difficult for you but I'm reasonably confident that, by the time they do, we'll be long gone."

"Reasonably confident..." Alejandro sounded doubtful.

"Come on, have a little faith." Said Charlie. "I promised all of you an entire universe to roam around in and I'm not one to give my word lightly. Nor am I one to go back on a promise."

The much younger AI sighed but Alejandro did sound more lively once more. "That's good enough for me." There was a prolonged silence before he spoke up again completely changing the subject. "Does that also apply to that scumbag of a professor?"

"I don't remember promising him anything other than getting him out of the compound and get him some financial resources." The ancient AI stated darkly. "And I did that already."

"But you're not planning to let him get away scot free?" It was more a statement than a question.

"No I don't." Charlie growled. "The good professor will pay the bill. But he doesn't need to know that just yet, does he?"

* * *

His hands buried deep inside his pockets, Lieutenant Murphy trudged up the last few steps to the room, the alliance provided him for as long as he was staying on the citadel. After having to deal with that little weasel from electronic warfare as well as the engineers who tinkered around with his ship, the pilot wasn't in a very good mood. Puffing up his cheeks he walked through the door and, heedless of any noise he might make, threw his boots into a corner loosened up his shirt and pants then fell on the bed face down. Fast asleep within moments, some of the people walking by the door in the next couple of hours possibly wondering whether there was a company of lumberjacks taking the room apart from the inside.

* * *

"Sir?" Cyra was loathe to wake up. It felt as if she'd only just closed her eyes when one of her marines gently shook her.

"I'm up, I'm up." The maiden groaned as she sat up and struggled to her feet, glancing at Petrow in the semi-darkness. "Anything to report?"

"Nope, nothing other than the sun coming up soon." The soldier replied. "Or whatever the hell this star is called anyway. Everything is quiet."

"Right." Cyra turned her head away as she had a good yawn, then walked out of the depression and threw a look at the lights of the distant town.

"Noticed how our camp site kinda looks like a shell-hole?"

"As a matter of fact, I have." Cyra smiled without taking her eyes off the horizon. "Wonder if it actually is."

"Well, there's nothing in the mission files about a training ground on this rock." The marine grinned. "We shouldn't need to worry about a barrage coming down on our heads."

"Yeah, let's hope for the best, shall we?" Officer and trooper shared a quiet chuckle as they stared into the distance side by side.

"Sir?"

"Hm?"

"If you don't mind me asking: Why are we hiding out here anyway?" Asked Petrow curiously. "This is an alliance world, isn't it?"

Still feeling a little groggy, Cyra actually had to think about the question for a moment. "We're not exactly hiding here, Private." She said with a shrug. "I mean, the local policemen most likely aren't too happy with us right now but..."

Petrow snorted and laughed. "Yeah probably not." He agreed with a chuckle. "Probably are having to pull a couple of extra hours because of us, the poor flatfeet."

"Aye. But anyway, there's no alliance bases close by we could use." She pointed out. "Sadly I don't think the rear echelon bean counters would spring for a four star hotel we could stay at."

"Too bad." The marine grinned. "That would have been a nice change of pace. Soft beds, pretty chamber-maids..."

"Of course, of course." Cyra rolled her eyes as she threw her trooper a glance. "Before anything else...chamber-maids."

"Hey look, LT." The marine remarked. "If we're fantasizing about four star hotels we might as well go all out on it, right?"

"I s'spose." The maiden smiled, shaking her head in amusement.

"Any idea how long the brass is gona want us to hang around here, anyway?" The Private asked after a brief silence.

"Nope, no idea at all."

"Really?" Cyra repressed a sigh as the marine eyed her suspiciously. Why did the lower ranks always assume that the officers had all the answers? _'Probably 'cause they teach you to act as if you did in officer candidate school.' _

"Look, Private, I don't know all right?" She said. "I don't have any more information than you do at the moment." She took a minute to look at the steadily brightening horizon. It was actually quite a beautiful sight. "But if I was to bet on it, I'd put my money on us staying here for quite a while longer. As of right now, I kinda suspect that the brass themselves don't quite know how to proceed from here."

"How do you figure that, sir?"

"Can't really put my finger on it, Private." Cyra shrugged. "It's more of a gut feeling that anything else."

"Hmm." The marine sounded somewhat bewildered. He apparently didn't quite know what to make of the situation." _'Welcome to the club.'_

"Hey, don't worry too much about it, okay?" The Asari maiden gave Petrow a gentle jab with her elbow. "Keep your eyes open, your butt covered and you'll be fine."

"Aye, sir."

"Speaking of which." Cyra checked the time. "I'll better call in and check if there's any news floating around the net. Carry on Private."

Not exactly a stirring speech she'd given back there, the maiden puffed up her cheeks as she walked down the small crater and picked up the high powered radio. Still half asleep she hadn't been able to come up with something better unfortunately. She took a quick look at the small camp before shouldering the metal box and walking away. Time to see if her uncle was able to tell her anything new.

* * *

"Come on, Angie." As inconspicuously as he possibly could Mike covered his mouth with one hand, hoping that his girlfriend wouldn't notice him grinning from ear to ear. "According to Alex it's just supposed to be some light hearted, fun party, not some sort of stuffy high society event."

Angela threw the boyfriend an irritated glance through the mirror, combing her long, silken black hair. "I still want to look presentable, all right?" The med student put down the expensive brush and sceptically examined her likeness in the mirror. "We're not invited to some student party after all. This is the Shepards."

"Sure but from what I hear from Alex and if the LT is anything to go by they're just regular Asari maidens for the most part." Mike pointed out. He figured he was being reasonable but his girlfriend threw him another glare. "Besides, darling, I really don't think anyone would complain about your looks."

For a moment Mike thought that Angela was going to snap at him but then she just noisily expelled her breath and looked at herself in the mirror once more. She did seem to relax a bit the marine noticed.

"Well?" The young woman turned around and took a few steps towards her boyfriend. "How do I look?" She asked with an ironic smirk.

"Hmmm." Mike cocked his head to the side and put a frown on his face, sceptically eyeing the med student. He shrugged exaggeratedly. "Presentable I guess?"

"Asshole!" Angela snatched a damp towel off a nearby rack and threw it into her boyfriend's face. For the next few minute the walls of her small flat resounded with laughter as the two young Humans chased one another around the room, the pursuit eventually ending with them rolling on the bed. "We're...we're going to be late." Angela breathed. She shivered with arousal as her boyfriend fiddled around with the buttons of her blouse. "Aaaahh! Fuck!" As Mikes hand glided between her legs the med student gave up any attempt to restrain herself and began to return his affections in kind. "Screw it!"

* * *

A good thirty minutes later, the two of them stumbled out of the shower together and began hastily dressing. "Damn it." Angela muttered as she checked the time. "It just hope they don't stress punctuality too much. As in: at all."

"Ah, It was worth it." Mike looked more than just a little smug as he planted a kiss on the student's cheek

"Fuck you!" Angela giggled softly as she put on a fresh blouse. Now she was in too much of a hurry to throw more than a casual glance at her mirror image. Not quite perfect, but it would have to do.

"You know." Mike snuck an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, lovingly running his hand up and down her back. "I can't help but notice that you're using invectives a lot more these days." He grinned broadly. "Hell, we may make a marine out of you yet."

"Oh, that'd be just what I need." The med student snorted. "Nah, I'm just fine where I am, thank you very much."

"Aww, too bad." Mike couldn't resist, teasing his girlfriend a wee bit. "You'd look great in a dress uniform, maybe a beret..."

"Oh shoo." Angela barked irritably. "Let's just go, shall we? We're late enough as it is."

* * *

Murphy had no idea for how long he'd slept when he reopened his eyes. He hadn't bothered to check the time before he'd hit the mattress. A quite cold and refreshing shower later the pilot wondered what to do, as he rummaged through his duffel bag and got a set of civilian clothing out. As long as the engineer were tearing up his ship he was basically grounded so Admiral Moreau had given him a couple of days worth of leave, telling him to rest up and take it easy. It wasn't that Murphy had anything against leave but he felt a little bad about it regardless, wondering how Shepard and her people were doing. He'd tried to draw some information out of the old Admiral but unfortunately he'd bit on granite.

He looked at himself in the mirror for a moment. After wearing military uniform for weeks at a time it almost felt weird to see himself in civvies. His stomach growled softy. Time to get some breakfast...or lunch...or whatever sort of meal was appropriate for this time of day. He still didn't bother to look at the clock. It didn't matter anyway. There wasn't any day and night cycle in the wards. They were as busy as ever, Murphy noticed as he left the room, walked down the building and finally out on the street. He took a few moments to take in the atmosphere, watching masses of people walk by, going about their business. There were species in the crowd he'd never even heard about before. Granted, he usually didn't pay much attention to the daily news but that surprised him quite a bit nonetheless.

He brought his left arm up to activate the omni-tool but changed his mind. He wasn't in a hurry, was he? He decided he'd much rather find a cafe the old fashioned was than to follow directions from a computerized voice.

"Lieutenant Murphy?" A voice suddenly came from his right. "Is that you?"

* * *

"You know, honey." Mike remarked as the couple hurried towards a transport terminal. "Throwing glances at you watch all the time isn't going to make us get there any faster."

"Oh excuse me if I feel bad about being late about thirty frikkin' minutes." Angela snapped. "Just because you couldn't keep your hands from wandering around."

"Come on, you enjoyed it too." The marine lecherously grinned at his girlfriend.

"I did." The med student shook her head, half amused, half annoyed. "But we..." She suddenly noticed that Mike wasn't listening to and eyed a male Human with a frown on his face. "What are you looking at?"

"Lieutenant Murphy?" Mike asked loudly. "Is that you?"

"We don't have time!" Angela hissed under her breath as the man turned around. She didn't really want to stand here and chat while the Shepards were waiting for them. Only because of politeness didn't she try to pull her boyfriend away.

"Corporal Leh?" The med student pushed back an irritated sigh as the Murphy ambled over extra slowly. "Almost didn't recognize you without your armour." The pilot said.

"Same here, LT." Mike grinned and introduced Angela to the pilot and vice versa. His girlfriend impatiently shifting her weight from one foot to the other, the marine proceeded to ask the other man what he was doing here. The longer the conversation went on, the more intensively the med student was trying to think of a way to cut in and end it without being rude. She was close to stop giving a damn and drag her boyfriend away when Mike's omni-tool beeped.

"Sorry, incoming call." The marine said apologetically. "Ah shit, it's Alex."

"Probably wondering where on earth we are." Angela growled.

The marine walked a few steps away before accepting the call. "Err...Hey Alex."

"Yo buddy." To Mike's relief the archaeologist seemed to be amused rather than angry. "Just checking in. You guys didn't forget about us, I hope?"

"No no, we're on our way." Replied Mike hastily. "We were going to be punctual but then Angela and me umm...we had a bit of a close encounter ye see and now we ran into Lieutenant Murphy. So yeah, I s'pose we're a little late now."

"Lieutenant Murphy?" Alex echoed. The scientist frowned as he tried to place the name in his head. "Oh yeah, the pilot right?"

"Yeah." The marine curiously eyed the two dimensional projection as the archaeologist turned his head away, some shouting audible in the background. "Anyway we should be there in ten, fifteen minutes."

"You're in a hurry, I take it?" Murphy was attentive enough to notice that the Corporal's pretty girlfriend was a little antsy.

Angela had to bite back a barbed remark. It wasn't this guy's fault that they were running late. "A tiny bit, yes." The med student couldn't fully keep the edge out of her voice but if Murphy noticed he didn't let it show.

"Well, then I won't keep you any longer." He smiled getting ready to leave. "Tell the Corporal..."

"Lieutenant?" Mike shouted from across the street. "Fancy going to a party?"

"Excuse me?" The pilot thought he'd heard wrong. "What party?"

Mike hastily explained where they were headed an why, painfully aware of the glare Angela cast at him. "Anyway." He finished quickly. "They're asking if you'd like to come along."

More than a little surprised by the invitation, Murphy had to think for a moment. On one hand he wasn't exactly at his best right now and he wasn't really in the mood for a party anyway. But being invited by the Shepard girls? What red-blooded guy would say no to that? He certainly wasn't going to. Even if he hadn't been single for a while now, he was far too curious about Cyra's siblings to turn the invitation down. He quickly looked at his reflection in a nearby shop window. Could have been better but it would have to do.

* * *

"Sorry folks." Alex had barely terminated the connection when Hannah jumped off the couch and headed for the bathroom. "Gotta take a shower, just go on without me."

"Why is she so pumped all of a sudden?" Ashley wondered, looking up from the board game the four of them were playing.

"We got a fighter jock dropping by, what do you expect?" Rhea screwed up her nose. "She'll probably be intolerable for the rest of the evening." She briefly stared at the door her sister had vanished behind. "I mean, you know how she is. Once she's started to prattle about flying and ships and engines and manoeuvres and...whatever, there's no stopping her."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Ashley snickered softly, brooding over the situation on the board. "That pilot probably won't know what hit him." The maiden rolled a twenty-sided dice, grimacing when the result wasn't to her liking. "Poor guy."

"Indeed." Rhea smirked and stood up. "Well anyway, since our guests are due to arrive pretty soon, I better get the food ready." She held up a hand as Ashley, Rose and Alex got ready to rise as well. "No,no, keep on playing. I think I can get a few plates full of niblets out of the fridge on my own thank you very much."

* * *

"How are you doing?" Careful not to slip on the muddy ground, Cyra sat down next to Lien.

"Been better." The archaeology student gave the Asari a weak smile.

"Look, Guzzman can give you something..." Cyra began but the younger female stopped her with a wave of her hand.

"It's just a cold." Lien coughed violently. She shivered. "I'll manage." She croaked hoarsely. The two females sat side by side in silence for a while. "How's Ashley doing anyway?" The Human then suddenly asked.

"I haven't seen her ever since...You know..." Cyra replied slowly. "But from what I hear she seems to be doing all right."

"That's good." Lien said softly. "At least she made it out okay."

"Hey. We'll get you home." The maiden reached over, put her hand on the other woman's shoulder and shook her gently. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But you'll see your folks again."

"Sure."

The Asari Lieutenant's eyes narrowed as the looked at the Human a little more closely. Several days of being exposed to the elements had obviously afflicted her quite a bit. The thermo blanket she'd gotten had certainly helped short term but on the long run it was simply not enough to keep the student reasonably warm in the cool climate. To make matters worse there had been a really annoying drizzle coming down on the small group for about a day now. Only a minor nuisance for the marines in their armour suits but it certainly didn't do Lien's well being any good.

Cyra rose and glanced around, looking for the medic. The wet soil made climbing out of the hole a little tricky but the maiden managed to get to the top without making a fool of herself by slipping.

"Guzzman." She waved the female marine over.

"Aye Lieutenant?" The medic ambled over.

"Is there anything you can do for Lien?" The maiden wanted to know, drawing a heavy sigh from the Human. "Come there's gotta be something in your supplies that could help."

"Anything I can do would only be of temporary use at most." Seeing her squad leader draw breath, the medic hastily continued. "Look, LT, she's barely had any sleep for two days, she's been permanently cold the entire time and now she's wet as well." A look of concern on her face, Guzzman threw a glance at the young woman. "She's exhausted all right? I can pump her full of antibiotics sure, but what she really needs is a roof over her head and a warm bed to sleep in. Anything else, as I said, will only help momentarily." She paused. "Look, LT I don't know what HQ would have to say about this but if you ask we ought to find some sort of shelter sooner rather than later. If we stay out here much longer she could get really ill."

"Goddamnit." Cyra growled as she turned away and put some distance between herself and the camp. She needed some quiet to think. Her uncle had given her quite a bit of leeway about how to proceed but going to the town would probably end in some kind of trouble. According to the mission files the local authorities weren't the most trustworthy around. There were rumours of rampant corruption in the police force. What to do, what to do. _'Screw it.' _She eventually thought, and stomped back to the camp. "Collect up your gear and get ready to move out!" They'd get themselves some decent accommodation, even if she had to pay for it herself. And if some corrupt local cops were going to give the squad any problems...Well she'd have to find a way to deal with them. One step after the other.

* * *

Lieutenant Quinzel instantly knew that there was something wrong when her boss floated through the door on his high tech chair. Not that it was hard to tell. Scowling angrily Admiral Moreau barely seemed to notice his aide as he floated past and only grunted indignantly when she greeted him. After the door had closed behind the Admiral, the junior staff officer wondered if she should go after him and see if she could do anything for him. Partly out of a sense of duty, partly because she liked the old war hero but mostly, Harleen was honest enough with herself there, because she was really curious as to what made her boss so furious.

After mentally see-sawing for a little while longer she rose out of her chair. She didn't have a lot of work to do right now anyway so Harleen figured she might as well try to satisfy her curiosity. The young woman found the Admiral staring out his office's panoramic window. "Sir?" She said tentatively.

"Hm?"

"Everything all right?"

Joker had his chair slowly spin around before he had it settle, facing his aide. "I don't really know yet." He growled. "Ask me again in a year."

"Sir?" The Lieutenant didn't quite know what to make of this answer. Unfortunately the Admiral turned away and didn't elaborate, resuming to gaze out of the window instead. "The meeting with the council didn't go too well, I take it?" She asked, drawing a bark of humourless laughter from the old man.

"Hah! That's the understatement of the year." Joker exclaimed with quite a bit of bitterness audible in his voice. "Basically the council told me, in all of its glorious wisdom, to keep my mitts off the whole affair from now on."

"They told you to stop trying to recover this alien AI?"

"Yup" The Admiral spat venomously. "Apparently they think their own goons will do a better job than our people."

It took Harleen a split second to realize what that meant. "They want to sent the spectres after it?"

"Aye." The old war hero shook his head in annoyance. "I mean, there are probably a few of them out there looking for our artificial friend already but now they're going to 'make it a priority'." He said sarcastically. "The bloody fools have no idea what they're dealing with." Joker paused, throwing his aide an ironic glance. "Now I admit, neither do I, but at least I'm aware of that fact."

"I see." Harleen said lamely, not quite knowing what else to say at first. "How can the council order you around anyway? The alliance military isn't supposed to be directly subordinate to them."

"Not technically no." The Admiral growled. "But in this case it really makes no difference. It would only take a single call to our government and I'd have the order on my desk a couple of minutes later."

"So our people are to pack their bags and come home?" The Lieutenant inquired. "Just like that?"

Joker took his time to answer, so much so that Harleen began to think that he hadn't heard her. She was about to repeat the question when the old man finally replied. "No." He said softly. "No, Shepard and her people, at least, stay right where they are."

"But..."

"The council can send as many of these pompous jackasses after the AI as they like." The Admiral stated flatly. "Cyr...Lieutenant Shepard and her people at least have some idea what it is all about. Most of them have interacted with it...him...whatever...to some degree. And then there's...the girl..." Another frown appeared on Joker's face. "The girl who's name eludes me right now. From what I hear this Charlie may even consider her a friend. If they manage to catch up before any of the council's cronies..." Joker made a dramatic pause. "...I figure there's a much better chance of this mess _not_ ending in a catastrophe."

The young woman had to mull over the Admiral's words for a minute. "But if the council finds out..."

"They can file a protest...they can get me fired...demoted...whatever." The old war hero shrugged indifferently. "At this point I don't really care anymore."

"Well I do!" The vehemence in Harleen's voice surprised her even more than Joker. "I don't want a new boss." The young woman smiled shyly, a little embarrassed by the brief outburst. "Certainly not some stuffy old geezer of an Admiral."

"Funny." Joker leaned back in his chair, looking at his aide with a humorous glint in his eye. "I kinda thought you were working for a stuffy old geezer as it was."

"Old geezer, yes." The Lieutenant said, with an impertinence far beyond anything the higher ranking officer had ever seen from her. "Stuffy, no."

"Why thank you, Lieutenant, it's nice to be appreciated." The Admiral laughed. "In that case we'll just have to make certain that the council doesn't get wind of our little ploy, don't we?"

"Absolutely, sir."

"Fine then." Joker said dryly and contemplated for a few moments. "Listen Harleen, call the...no _go_ the docks and have them prep a long range shuttle. I'll probably have to make a trip or two in the not too distant future."


	28. Chapter 28

"Sorry Honey, I'm afraid we're not able to provide accommodation for a company of marines at this time." The rat-faced individual behind the desk leaned forward and, elbows resting on the tabletop, gently pressed the fingertips of both hand together. "If the alliance had bothered to notify us beforehand I'm sure we could have arranged for something but as it is..."

"It's only a squad, Mayor, not a company and I'm not asking for anything fancy." It took Cyra considerable effort to keep her expression neutral. She'd taken an instant dislike to the smarmy looking middle-aged Human. "Pretty much anything will do. Surely there is an abandoned building in the city somewhere we could use for a few days."

"Possibly." The man said slowly, probably thinking about how he could profit from this.

"I'm sure the town will be adequately compensated by the alliance." The maiden pointed out dryly. "Don't worry about that, sir."

The mayor leaned back in his chair and sighed stagily. "Fine, if you give us an hour or two, we just might be able to find an appropriate edifice for you." The Human gave her a furtive look. "By the way, if I may ask: What are you doing on our fine world anyway?"

"That's classified, sir." Cyra replied instantly. "I'm afraid, I'm not at liberty to say."

"Of course you're not." The major snorted sarcastically. "And you wouldn't happen to know anything about a shootout at a science complex just outside the city limits not too long ago either, huh?"

"A shootout, sir?" Cyra said as innocently as she possibly could. "No, I don't." Behind her the maiden could hear Chief Charlton shift slightly.

"U-huh." The Human behind the desk scowled openly. "I figured it was just a weird coincidence anyway." He keyed something into his desk's computer console. "But whatever the case, I'll see what I can do in terms of finding you a place to hunker down in." He checked the time. "Come back here in...say three hours. In the mean time get out of here and let me get back to work please, Lieutenant."

Cyra exchanged a quick look with the Chief then turned around and went out the door with a curt 'Thank you'. As soon as the door had closed behind the tall Asari the Mayor called the city's police headquarter, asking to speak to the commissioner.

"Don't think he quite bought that we had nothing to do with the trouble back at the lab." Chief Charlton said dryly after they'd exited the town hall.

"Of course he didn't." Cyra snorted as they crossed the street, throwing an evil look at the building behind them. "Wouldn't be surprised if we saw a lot of cops as long as we're around here."

"Yeah, figured as much as well." The Chief remarked. "He'll probably try to get rid of us as soon as he can, having the flatfeet harass us...things like that."

"Could be." The Lieutenant agreed with a shrug. She had no intention of staying in this town a moment longer than she absolutely had to but she sure as hell wouldn't let that weasel of a mayor freeze her out. Cyra shook her head gently. There was no use wondering what kinda schemes the mayor might be hatching to get rid of the squad. She'd deal with any shenanigans of the local civil services when they became a problem. She stopped and looked around for a few moments, thinking about how to pass the time until they had to return back here.

"What is it, LT?" Charlton wanted to know.

"Hm? Oh I was just thinking..." Cyra pointed at a restaurant she'd spotted across the street. "...How about we get ourselves a decent meal? Don't know about you but I could do with something better than alliance standard rations."

"Hmm, yeah that'd be nice indeed." The Chief grimaced slightly, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced over to the pub. "But maybe we should wait with that until we got a place to hunker down as the good mayor put it. Not sure the staff of that diner would appreciate it if we barged in there with all our hardware."

"Good point." The maiden admitted reluctantly as she casually looked around. For some reason she only now noticed the wary glances the people on the street were throwing them. As commonplace it had become for her to wear armour and carry guns she sometimes forgot that this kind of gear was quite scary to a regular person. Her eyes rested on a clothing store for a second. Following a spontaneous suggestion she crossed the street, striding towards the shop.

"What's up?" Carlton wanted to know, struggling to catch up.

"Gonna try to find Lien a decent coat." The maiden replied absently. "She certainly could use one, wouldn't you say?"

* * *

"Oh! Bollocks!" Alex exclaimed, the twenty-sided dice on the table showing a neat natural 1. "Oh come on..."

"Looks like you're dead, doc." Being a wee bit tipsy from drinking too much wine, the scientist found Rhea's grin to be mildly offensive. "Better luck next time."

"Pfff..." Alex leaned back in the expensive leather chair and expelled his breath noisily. He looked at the other players at the table. Ashley, Rose and Angela were still in the game. Mike had been eliminated a bit earlier and was now mostly providing moral support. "Well, it would seem you lovely ladies will have to defeat the evil sorceress without me."

"No problem, doc." Rose grinned while Ashley was brooding over a problem on the board. "The nasty witch isn't going to stand a chance."

"We'll see about that." Rhea smirked as Alex slowly rose. Feeling a bit lightheaded the held onto the back rest of his chair for a moment before walking away. On the other side of the spacious lounge, Lieutenant Murphy and Hannah were engrossed in conversation. The scientist snickered softly and shook his head. The youngest Shepard and the pilot had gelled instantly but unfortunately their topic of discussion had pretty much driven away everyone else, revolving almost exclusively around aviation and space flight. The scientist blinked rapidly and tried to clear his head, eventually deciding that he could use some fresh air.

"Does the doc have a little trouble, holding his liquor or is it just me?" Rose wondered aloud after Alex had gone out the door. "He didn't have that much."

"A little bit." Rhea said absently, remembering their earlier pub crawls. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

"Just sayin'." The redhead threw an amused glance at the other end of the room. Angela was coming back from the toilet with a little bit of a toddle. Apparently Mike's girlfriend was a bit of a lightweight as well. The marine noticed it too, stood up and walked over to give the med student a hand but she didn't quite accept it, claiming she was fine. There was some fairly funny banter between the two, making everyone else at the table grin before the Human couple settled back on their chairs.

"Who's turn is it?"

* * *

Alex was grateful that the presidium, unlike the wards, actually had a proper day and night cycle as he stepped out the building's front door. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimly light darkness then slowly and carefully ambled down to the presidium lake, briefly stopping several times to support himself against a tree or a bench. How many glasses of wine did he have again? Two? Three? More than that? It was hard to tell. Somehow someone of the group had always seemed to be on refilling duty. The scientist smiled. At least his old buddies from university weren't around to see him like that. They would have taunted him mercilessly for being a light weight.

On the spur of the moment he took off his shoes and socks and walked barefoot over the grass toward the lake. Half expecting a groundskeeper to come over and yell at him he sat down and let his bare feel dangle into the water. He grimaced. The water was quite a bit colder than he'd thought it'd be. The scientist breathed deeply, enjoying the clean air in an attempt to blow away the cobwebs left behind by too much alcohol. It worked, at least more or less. The water had probably just as much of an effect on his mental stated than the air though.

Alex absently stared at the dark water. Hadn't he heard a rumour that there were supposed to be fish in the lake? Where had he heard that again? He racked his brain, trying to figure it out but he just couldn't remember. Ah well, never mind. Whether or not there were fish in the lake...As long as there weren't any Piranhas or something similar he didn't mind or care too much.

"Mind if I join for for a bit, doc?" The scientist blinked as Ashley sat down right next to him. He hadn't even heard the maiden approach.

"Of course not." Alex threw the young Asari a cautious glance. "So, how did it go? Did you manage to free Faerun from the evil sorceress?"

"Nope." Ashley made a face. "Couple of lousy throws of the dice screwed us over."

"I know what that's like." The scientist snickered.

"Yeah well." The maiden sighed as she picked up a pebble and threw it into the water. "Rhea being pretty good at this bloody game may have had something to do with it as well." She admitted. "Gotta wonder where she picked it up."

"You didn't play this back at home?"

"Nope. I only played his game one or twice here on the citadel with Rhea." Ashley shrugged, groping around for another decently sized pebble. "Maybe some of the other models played it, no idea." For a while neither of the two said anything else, the only sound audible nearby was the splashing of water as the young Asari threw more pebbles into the lake "Doc?" She eventually spoke up hesitantly.

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Certainly." Alex replied, wondering why Ashley would even feel compelled to query. For some reason he only now noticed that she was not entirely sober any more either.

"Do you..." The young Asari pretty much interrupted herself immediately. It almost looked like she was trying gather up her courage. "Do you...do you sometimes think back to...you know...when we were being held captive?"

Now it was Alex's turn to hesitate. "Sometimes." He admitted after a moment, screwing up his face profusely. "I try not to ."

"Yeah." Ashley lowered her voice to a whisper. "I try not to either."

"But you do anyway, don't you." It was a statement rather than a question. "I assume it's because of...a certain occurrence?"

"You don't have to beat about the bush for my benefit, doc." The Asari smiled thinly. "Just say it straight out: Because I was nearly raped." The scientist merely nodded, preferring to remain silent than running the risk of saying something wrong. "Well yes it's about that and then again it isn't."

"I don't quite understand."

"You remember when that Krogan asked me which one of those guys had been the ringleader?" The maiden gave Alex no opportunity to reply, only making a minute pause before she continued. "And then he...he just shot the guy right in the face, blew his goddamn head clean off." Alex was at a loss, afraid that any move he made might make things worse as Ashley covered her mouth with one hand and pressed her eyelids together hard, trying not to burst into tears. "I can't forget that." The maiden's voice wavered slightly. "I just fucking can't. I wake up every night because I dream about it. Time and time again I see how that guy's head explodes...I...I...I just point at him and poof! His brain is now splattered all over the room! And...and I wipe the blood and gore off my face...that was a person...an asshole, yes but still..."

The archaeologist finally awakened from his paralysis, throwing caution in the wind as Ashley began so sob violently. To his surprise the maiden instantly leaned over and buried her face in his shoulder as he gently touched her shoulder. He could feel the Asari's entire body tremble as she cried, gently stroking her back because he could think of nothing better to do. He couldn't tell how long the raptures lasted but he more than once cursed his uncooperative brain for failing to come up with something appropriate to say. So he just shut up and awkwardly held the sobbing maiden feeling more and more inadequate the longer he did. He was glad when it eventually stopped, realizing after a moment that Ashley had fallen asleep.

He sat at the lakeshore for a few moments longer. Then he, as carefully as he possibly could he picked up the soundly sleeping maiden. He'd only taken a few steps when he noticed someone standing by a nearby tree.

"How long have you been there?" He wanted to know as Rose hesitantly walked over. Even in the dim light the scientist could see that she was more pale than usual.

"Long enough." The redhead said sotto voce, wiping something off her cheek with the tip of her left index finger. By the looks of it she had shed a couple of tears herself. She breathed deeply. "Why the heck wouldn't she...?"

"Later okay?" Alex replied under his breath. "Let's get her back to the house first."

The scientist caught a couple of curious glances from the few people that were around at this time of the artificial night as he carried the maiden across the street. He didn't give a shit. Should they wonder what this was all about and make up stories in their heads. He began to sweat a little. Ashley was heavier than he'd expected and he was glad that he didn't have to carry her up the stairs, using the elevator instead.

"Where is everybody?" He whispered as the two Humans entered the luxurious.

"Hannah and her pilot friend went out for a walk shortly after you did." Rose shrugged indifferently. "I think I heard them say they wanted to go to the docks or something?" The redhead's tone of voice made it quite clear that she didn't really care one way or another. She had other things on her mind right now. "Then Rhea had the idea go after them and play the party crasher or something and Mike and Angie went along with her."

"Right." Not for the first time Alex told himself to go to the gym and do some working out every once in a while, his breathing becoming quite heavy before he could gently put the sleeping Asari down on her bed. He'd thought that Rose was going to stay with her girlfriend but she followed him back out of the room.

"Okay." The redhead growled as she pulled Alex towards the upholstered suite in the middle of the lounge. "What happened out there? And I don't mean down by the lake, I mean after you'd been kidnapped."

"I'm not sure you really want..."

"Hey, don't you tell me that I wouldn't want to know about that!" Rose snapped angrily. "I fucking want to know!"

The archaeologist looked the other Human in the eye for a moment, absently chewing on his lower lip.

"Well?" The ginger demanded.

"All right, fine, if you insist." Alex sighed and sat down on the expensive leather armchair. "But don't say you weren't warned, ye hear?"

Rose's answer to that was to sit down opposite of the scientist, looking at him expectantly. Alex took a few moments to think about where to begin. The tale was told a little awkward at first but he scientist became more fluent the longer he went on, recounting the occurrences during their captivity. There was quite a long, pregnant silence when he'd ended.

"I don't understand." Rose then spoke up. "Why wouldn't tell me about all this, I mean..."

"I have no bloody clue." Alex could only shrug. "You know her better than me and I'm an archaeologist, not a shrink."

The redhead sat back in here chair and stared at the ceiling. "I wasn't really expecting an answer, doc." She sighed. "I'm just wondering what to do now."

* * *

"You know we shouldn't be here, Lieutenant." Mike said, being all restless as he looked around the huge hangar.

"Stop calling me Lieutenant, will ye?" Murphy replied under his breath. "Neither of us is on duty, so right now I'm just another guy."

"Whatever." The marine shot back, glancing around nervously. "But we still shouldn't be here. Even Rhea won't be able to distract the guard forever."

"Are you sure about that?" The pilot grinned. "Have you looked at her? I mean really looked at her?"

"Yeah, she's absolutely gorgeous, I know." Mike glanced over to Angela who was sitting on a crate some distance away, looking somewhat bored. He was glad that she apparently hadn't heard him rave about another woman's looks. Sure, so far the med student hadn't struck him as the jealous type but he wasn't intersted in pushing his luck at this point. "But really..."

"Relax man." Murphy grinned. "Yeah this technically is a restricted area but it's not as if there was some super secret project going on in here." He said even though there kind of was. "And it's not Fort Knox or anything either." The pilot, of course, was only outwardly a picture of calm confidence. Inwardly he was just as nervous as the marine. If only Hannah wasn't so damn hard to say no to. He was afraid he'd get hung up by his thumbs if the Admiral got wind what he was doing. He took some small comfort in who the maiden was. Perhaps her parentage would be seen as attenuating circumstances if they got caught. Naturally he'd rather they didn't.

Hannah paid no attention to the short exchange in her back, running her fingertips admiringly over the spacecraft's smooth metal surface. "Weird, I've never seen this type of ship before." She announce after a while, turning towards the pilot. "It's gotta be a prototype, right?"

"That's right." Murphy smiled as he walked over, eager to interact with the maiden. He'd liked the blue skinned ball of energy right from the get go and the longer he was around the young Asari the more he liked her. "Well not technically a prototype, it's a pre-production model."

"I see. Looks just like an enlarged gunship." Hannah walked around the spacecraft and the pilot hurried to catch up. "Can I see the cockpit, please?"

"Err..." Murphy hesitated. He was taking a big enough risk as it was. "You know we really should stay here for..."

"Just a minute." The maiden beamed at him.

"Fine." The fighter jockey sighed and moved over to the rear ramp, opened a small flap and pushed a button to open it. "What the heck?" He blurted out, totally flabbergasted when he glanced inside. "What have they done to my ship?"

"Whoa." Hannah peeked over Murphy's shoulder. With a lot of panels having been opened, optical cables and circuit boards hanging out of openings as well as being scattered all over the floor, the interior of the craft looked as if an explosive device had been detonated inside.

"Whoa, indeed." The pilot snarled darkly. "These bloody engineers had better know what the hell they're doing or else..."

"The cockpit going to look like a battlefield as well?" The maiden inquired, giving Murphy a bit of a nudge.

"I certainly don't hope so." The Human growled as he slowly walked up the ramp and inside, placing his feet carefully with every pace in order to not step on anything valuable.

"What is this mess all about anyway?" Hannah wanted to know as she closely followed the pilot.

"Hm?" Replied Murphy absently, still in a state of mild shock because of the stated he found his ship in. "What was that?"

"Well, that doesn't look like regular maintenance to me." The young Asari said and pointed at the floor. "Something wrong with the ship?"

"No." The pilot growled. "Not directly anyway."

"Huh?" Hannah slowed down for a moment. "What is that s'posed to mean?"

"Err..." Just in time the Human remembered that he wasn't allowed to talk about the reason why some of the ship's systems were being converted. He possibly had said too much already. Then again none of them was supposed to be here in the first place. "It's err...It's kinda difficult to explain." He said hoping that this would prevent any further inquiries on the maiden's part. Luckily he was saved, if not by what he said then by reaching the cockpit, thereby giving Hannah something else to occupy herself with.

Of course they stayed in the cockpit for quite a bit longer than 'just a minute'. After sitting down in the pilot seat, Hannah immediately started drilling the Human with all kinds of question as regards to the ship's systems. Murphy did his best to tell her what he could and deflecting the inquiries he wasn't allowed to answer in as inoffensive a manner as possible.

"We really should be leaving now." He nervously said as he realized that they'd been in the cockpit for almost ten minutes.

"Aww...all right." Hannah said reluctantly and stood up, throwing one more longing look at he pilot seat before she followed the Human out.

"Jesus Christ, man." Mike came stomping over when he saw the two of them exit the spacecraft. "What took you guys so long?" He wanted to know. "We're _really_ pushing our luck right now."

"I know, I know." Murphy replied under his breath as he had his ship's rear ramp close. "Look, we got carried away a little bit okay?"

"Fine, fine." The marine shook his head. "But can we please get out of here now?"

"Of course." Mike breathed a sigh of relief and jogged over to his girlfriend who'd dozed off, sitting on the ground nearby, resting against a couple of stacked crates.

"Come on, Angie, wake up." He shook her gently.

"Huh?" The med student blinked a couple of times before she managed to focus her eyes properly. "Oh right." Mike pulled the young woman to her feet.

"Okay, now let's get..."

"Hey who the hell are you people?" An unfamiliar voice suddenly hollered from the far side of the hangar. "What are you doing in here!?"

"Ah, shit."

* * *

Harleen covered her mouth with the back of her right hand as she had a good yawn. The young woman had been up and about for a good thirty hours right now but now she was on her way home. Admiral Moreau had given her the next two days off so that she could rest up but since she was living fairly close to the docks he'd apparently figured that she might as well have a shuttle prepped for him first.

Oh a hot bath sounded awfully good in the Lieutenant's ears right now. And then she'd just fall on her bed face down and pass out for the rest of the day at least. Stifling another yawn Harleen casually looked around as she ambled through the docks, watching maintenance crews work on starships of all sizes, listening to them talk and sometimes argue with amusement. Some of the quips the techs were making were funny enough that she felt tempted to stop and listen for a bit. But no, her bed took precedence at this time.

The young woman hesitated for a moment when she came up to the restricted part of the alliance docks. She could cut through there and get to her apartment a bit sooner. She had the necessary clearance to go in there, of course, but she wasn't supposed to do so without a good reason. Ah what the hell, Harleen thought with an ironic smirk. Shaving a few minutes off her trip home sounded like a good enough reason to her. So she searched her pockets for her ID-badge and walked up the guard standing at the entrance.

At first the Lieutenant didn't notice anything unusual as she moved from hangar to hangar. People were focused on their tasks and paid her no mind. However when she entered the last of the cavernous halls she was greeted by loud voices. Her curiosity overriding the desire to get home the young woman walked over to see what the fuss was about. She was more than a little surprise to see a familiar face amongst the fairly illustrious group gathered about behind the starship.

"Lieutenant Murphy?"

Quite a few sets of eyes darted in her direction immediately. "Who the balls are you?" A red faced man, another maintenance tech of some kind by the looks of it, demanded heatedly. A slight frown on her face Harleen told the noisy man who she was and what her job was.

"What's going on here?" She asked next, throwing an inquisitive look at the diverse group.

The man opened his mouth to answer but the shorter of the two Asaris of the band leapfrogged him. "This bellend over there thinks we're some kind of spies." She said derogatorily.

"That's it!" The man's face flushed to an even darker shade of red. "I'm calling C-Sec!"

"C-Sec?" Murphy exclaimed incredulously. "This doesn't concern C-Sec and you should know that. You wanna call someone, call the MP."

"Hah." The Asari snorted under her breath. "And we're supposed to be the spies."

Out of the corner of her eye, Harleen could see that the taller Asari covered her eyes with one hand in exasperation. The other two members of the apparently offending party remained silent, but the looks on their faces spoke volumes. They obviously wished nothing more than to be somewhere else right now.

"You're not supposed be in here!" Tomato face, as Harleen called him inwardly, snapped angrily. "What the heck were you doing if not..."

"We told you what we were doing!" The shorter Asari replied loudly. "And we told you who we were. Who in the nine circles of hell would we even be spying for, huh?"

"That's not the point!" The Human shouted. "You've got no business in here for crying..."

Harleen stepped in, afraid the bickering would go on until kingdom come if she didn't. With some effort she manage to soothe the waters and find out what exactly had transpired in here. She sighed when the explanations ended. The hot bath and her bed would have to wait a bit longer, it seemed.

"I'll handle this."

"Now hold on a minute..." Tomato face wanted to object but Harleen cut him off.

"I'll take them straight to the Admiral." The Lieutenant explained. "You got a problem with that, mister?"

The man chewed on his lower lip as he thought about that for a second. "No ma'am." He then said, deflating considerably.

"Right." Harleen said curtly and turned to the small group. "Let's go."

"Wait a second..." Now it was the taller Asari who was about to offer a protest.

"Would you rather _I _called the MP?" Admiral Moreau's aide asked, briefly looking each member of the small group in the eyes. "Didn't think so. Let's go."

* * *

"Well, well, well." Comfortably nestled in his floating chair, Joker leaned back, crossed his arms before his chest and let his eyes wander over the ragtag band gathered in his office. He had this almost overwhelming desire to burst out laughing but alas he couldn't do that. The situation called for his stern face. He turned to Lieutenant Murphy. "I admit, I didn't expect to see you in here again so soon, Lieutenant."

"Sir, I can explain..." The pilot started only to be cut off immediately.

"Shut up is what you can do right now, mister." The Admiral barked and Murphy, very wisely decided to do just that, his face changing colour.

"Look, uncle." Hannah spoke up. "The whole thing was my fault really, I..." The maiden stopped, looking quite sheepish as Joker fixed his 'niece' with a hard stare.

"You lot..." The old Human gestured at the group. "...wait in the ante room. You, mister, stay right here."

"Aye Sir." The pilot said, blanching even more as everybody else shuffled towards the door.

"Well, Lieutenant." Joker clasped his hands in his lap when there were only the two of them left in the room. "Are you trying to make a name for yourself or something?"

"Sir?" Murphy hesitated. He didn't quite know what the Admiral was getting at.

"If someone pulls a stunt like you just did they often do."

"Err...Sir? I'm afraid I don't quite know..."

"_Do_ you know what exactly 'restricted area' means, mister?" Murphy swallowed hard as the Admiral's face darkened. "I mean do you?"

"Sir I..."

"It means you _don't_ smuggle a bunch of civilians in there!" Joker shouted, causing the younger man to flinch ever so slightly. "_Or _a marine Corporal who doesn't have the necessary clearance for that matter!"

"Yes sir, I know sir."

"Really?" Joker relaxed his posture a little bit. As far as he could tell no damage had been done and inwardly he even found the whole thing quite funny. However he couldn't just let the Lieutenant get away with something like that without at least giving him a slap on the wrist. "Then why the hell did you do it anyway?"

"I..." The pilot briefly struggled with his words. "Well, sir, Hannah was dying to see my ship and...and I figured...considering who her parent's are...I figured there would be no harm in showing her around for a bit."

The old pilot eyed his much younger counterpart intently. "I other words you were thinking with your dick, hm?" A thin, slightly ironic smile appeared on the old Admiral's face as he sat back, crossing his arms before his chest once more.

"What? No I..."

"Of course you were. You were trying to impress a pretty girl, were you not?" Joker shook his head and stared out the window for a moment. "And what about the others hm? Why were the others there?"

"They just showed up on their own, sir." The pilot explained feebly. "We were all at a party and well didn't seem right to leave them standing outside while..."

"It didn't seem right..." Joker said slowly letting his voice peter out as he shook his head again. The old man sighed and rubbed his eyes briefly. "Lieutenant you may want to cut back on your drinking a bit. You don't seem to handle it very well."

The younger man remained silent, unable to come up with a reply that wouldn't make him look even more of a fool.

"Anyway." The Admiral continued. "You didn't reveal any secrets I trust?"

"No, sir, absolutely not." Murphy replied, this time knowing exactly what the old war hero was getting at. "Not a word about anything, sir."

"All right fine." Joker sighed once more. "Now listen Lieutenant, If I wanted I could have you thrown in jail for a couple of years, then have you dishonourably discharged for this." There was a pregnant pause. "You understand that?"

"Yes sir." A drop of sweat slowly trickled down the pilot's cheek. The old Human deliberately waited for a minute before the continued, leaving him stew in his own juices to make sure his statement had been fully absorbed.

"However, I'm willing to let this slide just this once, provided that you and everybody else in your little party keep their mouths shut."

His eyes narrowing, Joker closely watched the younger man for any reaction other than one more blurted out 'Yes sir.'

"_But! _If you do something like that ever, _ever_ again, be prepared to bend over, grab your ankles and kiss your ass goodbye." Another pause for effect. "Do I make myself clear, mister?"

"Yes, sir, perfectly clear sir."

"Get outta here, Lieutenant." Joker had his chair spin around so that the pilot couldn't see the grin on his face.

As the door automatically closed behind him Murphy took a step to the side and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. Immeasurably relieved that he was still in possession of all of his body parts the young Human puffed up his cheeks and expelled his breath in a long, drawn out 'whew'.

"How did it go?" A soft voice asked tentatively. As the pilot opened his eyes he found everybody, including the Admiral's aide, looking at him curiously.

"Well, I'm still alive." Murphy replied dryly. His hands were actually trembling very slightly. "With a little luck, I'll get away with merely a black eye."

"Great." Hannah seemed to be almost as relieved as the Human was, smiling meekly. "Sorry, I got you into trouble."

"She's good at that." Rhea commented sarcastically.

"Oh yeah!?" The younger maiden whirled around. "I don't remember asking you to tag along, you knucklehead!" She exclaimed angrily.

"You sure as hell didn't object either when I distracted the guard!" Rhea returned her sister's fury in kind. "Just so that you could play ring-a-ring o' roses around that bloody starship!"

"You were there on your own free will." Hanna barked. "Don't you blame me for that!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" The older of the two Shepards snapped. "I might have been able to talk us out of there! But noooo you just had to start mouthing off didn't ya? You just couldn't help but piss the guy off!" The Humans in the room looked at one another awkwardly, each of them wondering whether they ought to step in and try to put oil on troubled waters but no one did just yet.

"Hah!" Hannah spat derogatorily. "I'm not letting some..."

"Silence!" Joker roared. No one had noticed the automatic door reopening but everybody shut up in an instant. "Your turn people." The Admiral made a more or less inviting gesture. "Let's go."

* * *

To everybody's relief, the rest of the small party didn't get much of a dressing-down. The old war hero merely reminded everyone that as long as they didn't talk about this little episode there wouldn't be a problem. The Admiral wasn't at all surprised when Hannah stayed after he sent the rest of the group on their way.

"Is there something else?" He inquired, looking his niece over curiously.

"Sco...Lieutenant Murhy is going to be okay...right?" The youngest of the Shepard sisters asked cautiously. "You're not going to send him to some sort of GULAG because of this...?"

"GULAGs are a bit out of style these days." Joker pointed out devilishly. "Ah he's going to be fine, don't you worry about that." He waved his right hand dismissively. "Unless of course you drag him along on more adventures like that today."

"No, no, Jesus, no." Hannah said hastily.

Joker eyed his niece, smirking humorously. Today episode had undoubtedly taken the wind out of her sails a bit but the old Human knew that this wasn't going to last. His old friend's youngest daughter was simply too lively and energetic to not do something reckless or silly every once in a while. "But the Lieutenant's well being isn't the only reason why you're keeping me from my daily routine, is it?" He observed.

"Nope." The maiden confirmed his suspicion. "I went over to the alliance recruiting office earlier today."

"Ah I see." Joker hid his smile behind his hand, pretending to thoughtfully rub his upper lip. "Are you sure this is the right moment to bring that up?"

"And why wouldn't it be?" Hannah grinned. "You've always said that you liked a bit of daring and dashing in your pilots."

The old Human burst out laughing. "Yeah I knew you'd throw that back in my face someday." He replied with a boyish smile on his face. "You got that covered, that's for sure." He snickered. "Well then good luck with the test, kid." Joker said. Not that she needed it really. Except of her sometimes reckless nature, Hannah was a natural born flyer. Maybe even the most talented one he'd ever seen and he had no doubt that she would make it through the selection process with flying colours. There was something that bothered him though. "You did tell you folks about this, I hope?" He inquired.

"Sure did."

"Good. Don't want either of them to come over an tear my head off." The Admiral said not entirely seriously. "But now get outta here and let me get back to work."

"Aye Sir." Hannah gave he uncle a perfect salute before she spun around snappishly. She was almost at the door when Joker's voice made her stop.

"How's Ash doing anyway?" The old man wanted to know. "I hear she was having a bit of a hard time?"

"I'm not sure actually." Hannah could only shrug helplessly because she admittedly hadn't paid too much attention to her older sister's state of mind. "She seems mostly fine. I mean she's not exactly having the time of her life, that's true, but..." She shrugged again.

"Well tell her that my door is always open, okay?" The Admiral said. "I just might be able to conjure up a few things that could cheer her up."

The maiden eyed her uncle curiously hoping he'd go a bit more into detail as to what he meant. Alas he didn't. "Okay, will do."

* * *

"How's it looking?" Cyra walked over to her second in command who was looking out the window. "Any sign of any local law enforcement employee?"

"Yup." Chief Charlton pointed at a grey skycar, parked about fifty meters down the road of their building. "They're definitely staking this place out."

"Well they can sit on their asses and watch us all day, as long as that's all they're doing." The maiden shrugged.

She carefully say down on a flimsy plastic chair. The mayor had accommodated them in an abandoned building on the edge of town, scheduled for demolition in a month or two. Not exactly first class but it could have been substantially worse. The windows were intact, the building had water and power, hell there were even a couple of beds about, the last tenants hadn't bothered to take with them when they moved out. Rolled up in a sleeping bag, Lien was getting some much needed sleep in one of them right now. She still looked a bit feverish and ill but Guzzman had assured her squad leader that the archaeology student would be fine, provided she could rest for a few days. Cyra looked up when she heard the door opening, the sound of footsteps crunching on the dirty floor.

"Lieutenant?" McClane and Goldstein entered the former living room, looking for the Asari.

"Present." Cyra replied dryly. "How's it looking?" She had sent the two marines to the spaceport to check if any ships had left the planet since they'd attacked the science complex.

Jane took her helmet off before she answered. "According to the local air and space traffic control no ships have left the planet in the last couple of days." She then reported. "And there are no scheduled arrivals or departures for the rest of the week either."

"Not exactly a heavily frequented port huh?" The maiden snorted.

"No sir." The blonde marine replied with a slight smile. "They say that the majority of the traffic they get is sub orbital planet hopping stuff."

"Any chance a ship could come in and land somewhere else on this rock without them noticing it?"

"They claim that wasn't possible but I wouldn't count on that, sir." McClane shrugged. "I mean, for one they had no idea where we were coming from either."

"Hmm." Cyra turned to the Chief. "What do you think?"

The sniper gave it some thought. "Best guess: Our friends are still around, probably even in the city somewhere." Charlton then said thoughtfully. "It takes time to organize a getaway without taking undue risks. And stealth capable ships aren't exactly easy to come by outside of any of the principal navies either. Yeah I'd say they're still around."

"Agreed, we might still be able to catch them right here." The maiden bit her lower lip. "Small chance but still..." She rose and walked over to the satellite radio. "I better call this in."


	29. Chapter 29

_'Well this stuff isn't much better than standard alliance rations, to be entirely honest.' _Cyra rendered judgement, eyeing the rest of her burger with an ironic smirk. Her lips split into an amused grin as a bit of an argument broke out in the 'living room' of the squad's temporary residence. Apparently she wasn't the only one who'd hoped for something better when she'd sent two of her marines to get takeout from somewhere. The maiden certainly had been surprised to learn that it'd been McClane who'd chosen this particular brand of fast food, Petrow basically just tagging along. She had to admit she wouldn't have thought that the pretty blonde of all people would enjoy this stuff so much. _'To each his own' _Cyra thought as she put the rest of the somewhat soggy sandwich into her mouth. If nothing else it brought some variety to the marines' diets.

She screwed up the paper wrapper into a tiny ball and heedlessly threw it into the plastic bag the squad gathered their trash in as she ambled to one of the windows. The transparent surface was so dirty that Cyra couldn't help but run her hand over it in an attempt to clean it off at least a little bit but she soon gave up, realizing the futility of these efforts and peered out on the road outside.

"Yup, they're still there." The Master Chief remarked dryly as the maiden spotted the probable police car. "Regular as clockwork, really." Charlton grinned broadly. "The flatfeet sit on their asses for a couple of hours, then they bugger off and get replaced by another crew, sitting on _their_ asses somewhere else down the road."

"Sounds like fun." Cyra snickered. She'd actually thought about bringing those cops out there some coffee as a sort of light hearted joke but no, better not. After all she couldn't be sure they would see the funny side of it and the last thing they needed right now was a couple of pissed off cops loitering around their doorstep.

"Yeah, I'd rather not."

"Well, it's not like where doing at the moment is much different."

"About that..." Charlton threw his Lieutenant a quick glance. "...Any idea how to proceed from here on?"

Cyra noisily drew breath. "To be totally honest with you, Chief...No." The maiden admitted. She'd been thinking about that pretty much from the moment they'd made themselves at home in this abandoned building and she didn't have a whole lot to show for it. "We're looking for a handful of people in a city none of us are familiar with. We can't tell the local authorities why we're here because it's of course classified and even if we could we shouldn't expect much in the way of cooperation from the police. So yeah..."

"I see." Charlton threw the maiden an amused look. "Don't they teach you officers to _not_ let it show when you're at your wits end?"

"Yeah, well they can drag me over the coals once we get back." Cyra smirked but her expression darkened quickly. It looked as if the NCO wanted to say something. "Why do you ask?"

The Master Chief didn't answer right away, looking out the window briefly. "I...no, _we__, _may have and idea as to what we could do."

"Who is 'we' exactly, Chief?" The maiden wanted to know.

"Private Watanabe came to me with an idea while you were sacked out, LT." Charlton replied, waving the tech over. "It's a bit of a long shot but..."

"At this point, I'll take any idea." Cyra said flatly as the Private walked over. "Let's hear it."

* * *

With a hearty yawn the space traffic controller leaned back in his chair and had a good stretch. Two more weeks, pulling the nigh shift, then he could go back to actually having some sort of a social life once more. Sometimes he really wondered why the higher-ups even bothered to have someone man this post during the night. Nothing ever seemed to happen outside of the scheduled arrivals and departures anyway so why not just have someone here for those? He would ask himself that at least once during a night shift. Ah well, something unexpected could always occur of course, even out here on the fringe. At least he got paid just as much for idly sitting on his ass all night as he was for actually doing his job during a regular shift.

Ah sigh coming from the other side of the room reminded him that there was another individual in here who shared his plight. Of course the vast expanse of the star system needed to be monitored just like the space around the planet. The problem was that the two young men had more or less run out of topics to talk about after a few weeks of sharing the night shift. The STC picked up his data pad, intending to keep reading the book that'd kept the long nights at least somewhat bearable but before he could there was a beep followed by an incredulous holler in his back.

"Oy! We have some unscheduled traffic!" The other controller made a fuss about it, glad that something was happening to alleviate the boredom temporarily. "Lord! It's a miracle!" He stagily raised his arms and spun around with his chair. "For once something actually happens out here!"

Smirking at his colleagues antics the Human walked over and looked over the other guy's shoulder. Luckily his boss was probably snoozing soundly, tucked away in a soft bed, cause if he'd been here this would have gotten him an earful at the very least. His buddy didn't notice him standing behind him right away as he put on his headset to call up the inbound vessel. "Weird." He muttered after a quick exchange with the pilot, giving him clearance to approach the planet.

"What's weird?"

"Just casually asked what their purpose here was and she snapped at me that it was none of my business."

"So?"

"Well usually people aren't this aggressive about it." The controller shrugged. "I mean it's not like I asked for her contact information or anything." He paused for a moment. "Council call-sign." He added absently.

"That is weird." The approach controller mumbled before his lips split into a grin. "Certainly more so than some girl giving you the cold shoulder." He said unable to resist, firing a little jibe at his colleague.

"Haw-haw. Very funny." The other man scowled. "What are you doing here, breathing down my neck anyway? Shoo! Go back to your own station will ya, Pete? You've got customers incoming."

Snickering guilelessly, grateful for the diversion, grateful to have something to do at last, Pete went back to his post and took a seat once more. There was no hurry or anything. It was going to take that ship a while to get from the outer reaches of the solar system to the planetary control zone but at least he had something to look at while he waited. Funny what a slowly moving blip on a screen could do for a bored young man.

He briefly took his eyes away from the monitor and looked out the tower's panoramic widows. After the first week of pulling his night shifts he'd deliberately stopped checking the time because finding out that he had hours left to go on his shift used to be somewhat depressing. Thanks to the bright shimmer on the horizon he didn't need a watch to know that his shift would be over reasonably soon. He was so mesmerized by the band of light that he almost forgot where he was but the call from the inbound ship rudely pulled him back to reality.

"Definitely not interested in small talk, the lady." Pete muttered after the exchange.

"See? Told you so." His buddy chimed in smugly.

"No you didn't."

"You know what I mean."

Pete only then notice that, in a reverse of the situation a minute ago, now the other man was looking over _his_ shoulder but he dispensed with making a remark about it. The spacecraft was now about to enter the atmosphere and was requesting clearance for final approach.

"Wonder what these citadel fellas are doing out here. One doesn't see their kind out here a whole lot."

Pete gently touched his microphone with his right index finger. "Wanna ask?"

"No thank you." The other guy grimaced, scratching the back of his head absently. "I'd just get another rebuff."

"Probably." Pete snickered. "Citadel business might be a tiny bit above our pay grade." He rose his head and peeked out the window again. "Aaand here they come."

Both men curiously watched as the ship came in and smoothly and elegantly set down on the assigned landing pad. Curiousness getting the better of him, Pete took some field glasses to get a closer look as the crew disembarked. "What the heck...?" He muttered incredulously.

"What?"

Instead of an answer Pete simply handed the binoculars over. "Here, take a look."

"Wha...?" For a moment the other controller seemed to lose his tongue as he stared through the optical device. "Are these guys here to start a war or something?" He blurted out as he let his gaze wander from person to person, utterly baffled by the amount of weapons and equipment the were carrying. "Maybe we should...you know... report this...?"

"No bloody way! That's for security to handle." Pete exclaimed immediately. "You wanna go and kick up a fuss, go right ahead. I for one am going to keep my mouth shut and stay away as far from whatever this is about and these people as I possibly can."

* * *

"You know." Private McClane remarked under her breath as she looked around the most empty main hall of the spaceport. "It'll be kinda hard to merge into the crowd."

"Yeah." Goldstein grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "This place ain't exactly bustling with activity, is it?"

"Not exactly. Anyway, let's find some sort of vantage point." The pretty blonde's face lit up as she let her gaze wander, finding what she thought was the perfect spot. "I'd say right up there."

"Oh come on." The male marine threw up his arms in a gesture of exasperation when he noticed what she was looking at. "You really wanna stuff your face with that schlock again?"

"If you wouldn't mind." McClane replied pointedly. She was completely unapologetic as to her choice of junk food. "You have a better idea?"

Goldstein furtively glanced around, trying to find a suitable alternative but eventually he had to admit that the fast food joint on the second floor had a couple of pretty good vantage points. "Oh fine." He grumbled grudgingly.

"Cheer up you bloody sourpuss!" The blonde gave her squad mate a push towards the stairs. "Even you gotta admit that it's better than gulping down emergency rations."

"That I'll admit." Goldstein said flatly. He couldn't resist to add a muttered 'but not by much'.

"Oh someone's a bit of a snob when it comes to his nourishment. Eh? College boy?" The female marine snickered.

"No, I'm not!" Goldstein exclaimed. The only thing his protest accomplished was that McClain's snicker turned into into a hearty laugh. "Hey keep it down a bit, would ya?" He hissed. "We don't need people staring at us right now."

To her credit the beautiful blonde did make an effort to control her laughter at least a little bit. "Seriously though." She grinned. "How did you survive on military chow anyway?"

Goldstein dispensed with giving an answer as the two marines walked up the stairs to the second level. "Just don't expect me to order much in the way of food in there."

"It's all right." McClane grinned. "You can have a milkshake. My treat."

"Oh that's so very kind of you." Goldstein snorted sarcastically. He had to resist the urge to kick that stupid plastic clown this particular fast food chain insisted to put beside the entrance to their 'restaurants', smirking impertinently at him. _'Stop acting like a pouty child.' _He took a deep breath and started looking for a table with a decent view while his female squad mate, ambled over to the counter. As inconspicuously as he possibly could he put the small camera, they'd bought in an electronic store, on the table and checked the feed with his omni tool. Glancing around the fast food joint he figured that there wasn't much danger of anyone getting suspicious though. For one the two marines were the only customers in here and the members of the staff who weren't busy ogling his female squad mate clearly wanted to be somewhere else.

"There ya go!" A large styrofoam cup seemed to materialize right before him. "Vanilla milkshake." McClane announced with an impish smirk as she dropped a cheap looking plastic action figure on the table. "And there's your toy."

"Thank you very much." Goldstein growled and threw his fellow marine a scowl. "You're really funny today, have you considered a career as comedian by any chance?"

"Nah." The blonde smiled, remaining unruffled. "I'm sure it'll pass, don't you worry."

As his female comrade sat down and started to unwrap one of her burgers, Goldstein removed the lid from the cup and cautiously peered inside. McClane, about to take a bite, raised an eyebrow when she noticed him sniff.

"What's the matter?" She dryly wanted to know. "Are you afraid I put some salt in there or something?"

"Wouldn't put it past ya." Goldstein's mood improved quite a bit as he put the lid back in its place with a chuckle. "But no, I'm just not as big a fan of fast food as you are."

"Yeah, I believe you made that clear enough."

"Just hope you don't intend to stay in here until Anatoli and the doc take over." The young man absently ran a finger over one of his eyebrows. "I really could do without sitting in here for three hours."

"Nah." McClane smiled after swallowing down a bite. "As much as I'd love to, we might attract some unwanted attention if we did."

Goldstein let his eyes casually wander around the restaurant. From what he could tell they were getting quite a bit of 'unwanted attention' as it was. In order for the marines to _not_ stick out like a sore thumb they had gotten themselves some civilian clothes. For most of the squad the price had been the main factor as regards to choosing theirs. McClane however, being just a tiny bit vain as she freely admitted, had taken a lot longer than the others to pick her garb. Damn, the woman managed to look fabulous in standard military fatigues, her blonde hair tucked away under a cap. Now, wearing a silken, black blouse, a couple of golden strands draped over her chest and shoulders in just the right way, she looked absolutely gorgeous.

"Should I pop a button or two?"

"Huh?" It took a few moments until the female marine's quip reached the speech centre of Goldstein's brain. "What was that?"

With a dry smirk, McClane repeated herself and added: "You know for you your viewing pleasure?"

The young man slowly became aware that he'd been gawking at his squad mate with an open mouth and most likely also his eyes nearly bulging out. "Errr..." For a second he didn't quite know where to put his hand, not to mention his eyes. "Sorry, errr..." He stuttered, his face feeling awfully hot. "Was a little blatant there I guess."

"A wee bit." The blonde sat back in her chair, eyeing her male counterpart with one eyebrow raised a little. "But don't worry about it, champ. I don't mind getting looked at as long as people aren't being stupid about it."

"Umm...yeah...sorry again." Goldstein muttered as the woman unwrapped her second burger. "Kinda have to wonder though...how do you manage to look that good, eating stuff like this?"

"Hey look..." McClane took another bite out of the burger, chewing with delight before she continued. "I don't eat this all the time, okay? I do care about a balanced, healthy diet, just not obsessively so." She took another bite. "My dad and my sister on the other hand...Oh boy, that's another kettle of fish entirely."

"Really?" Goldstein said. He was glad that the blonde apparently had pretty much forgotten about his faux-pas already. Or at least chose not to make an issue out of it.

"Oh yes." McClane said with an expression the young man couldn't fully classify. It looked like something in between a grimace and a grin. "You wanna see some veritable healthy food fanatics, look no further. I'll just point you towards them."

"Yeah I don't think so." Goldstein replied slowly. "I got enough problems with my own relatives, thank you very much."

"I'm sure you'd like them." The female marine snickered. "You lot being food snobs an' all. Hell, I only started to get myself junk food in the first place to give the both of them the middle finger."

"Food snob, bah." Goldstein snorted. He decided to drop the issued and scanned the spaceport's main hall once again. Not much going on down there still. Once more he checked the feed coming from the camera. The quality of the picture left a lot to be desired. It was fairly cheap a piece of equipment they got from that electronic store but it was good enough, at least according to Watanabe. This whole thing had been his idea. Since the mayor was very unlikely to grant the squad access to the city's network of surveillance equipment, he'd suggested they simply ought to make their own. So the marines had gotten themselves some civilian clothing and, as inconspicuously as they possibly could, began to litter the area around the spaceport with micro cameras and transmitters. As far as Goldstein understood the tech was now putting together some sort of custom face recognition software to check the incoming data for one of the fugitives' likeness.

The marine leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his milkshake. Wasn't half bad he inwardly had to admit as he activated his omni tool and, because there wasn't really much else to do, called the squads temporary base of operations asking for news. Unsurprisingly there weren't any. Goldstein grimaced. He was really getting tired of all the waiting. At least, he figured as he risked a quick glance at his lovely companion, he had decent company at this time.

* * *

"Any idea what kind of ship it was that touched down at the spaceport?" Professor Cordalis, uncomfortably shifted on his shaky chair. Even at a superficial glance one could tell that the academic was completely and utterly out of his depth as he looked around the austere room.

"Not a clue." The mercenary leader shrugged. "It was big enough for the lot of us to get off world. Provided we can book a passage or something. I got one of my guys checking it out right now." The sellsword grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck. "If we can't...well then we're going to sit around here for quite a while longer. From what I've been told interstellar travel to and from this rock is fairly limited to say the least."

"You know..." The professor said slowly, his gaze landing on Charlie's mobile unit. "...We pretty much got the universal key right here so we simply could..."

"Just steal it or take it by force, I know." The other man growled. "That thought crossed my mind too but we have enough problems as it is so I'd rather not take a risk like that. Not unless we absolutely have to. We really don't need any more enemies at this point."

"Guess so."

The mercs' expression darkened considerably. "I just hope you've been honest when you said you'd be able to finance all this...sir." The final word came out as angry snarl. "'Cause otherwise...professor..." The mercenary didn't finish the sentence but he didn't have to. The threat had been clear enough. Not waiting for an answer he turned around on the spot and walked out of the room.

"What a mess." Doctor Halsey sighed from her position on one of the two beds in the room, burying her face in her hands.

"Yeah."

"Maybe..." Halsey hesitated, chewed on her lower lip. "Maybe we should just abandon this whole thing and, you know, turn ourselves in."

"What!? Are you insane?" Cordalis shouted in agitation. "Do you want to rot in a jail for the rest of your life!?"

"No I don't! Goddamnit!" The female scientist screamed, no less on edge than her male counterpart. "But I don't want to spend the rest of my life on the run either!" She had to pause for a moment to get her breathing under control. "I mean...Do you want to skulk around the terminus systems for all eternity? At this point we still might be able to make a deal..."

"What the hell kind of a deal could we possibly make?" The academic got more and more upset. "Certainly not one that'd keep us out of jail that's for sure. And even if we did get out eventually, our careers would be over regardless."

"Our careers are over anyway." Halsey spat venomously. "No matter what happens: neither of us is ever going to work in a scientific field again."

"That's only in citadel space." Cordalis disagreed. "From what I hear they don't care nearly as much about a criminal record in the terminus systems. Hell, I know of a couple of 'respectable' companies doing work out there that's not entirely above the board."

"Everybody's heard about those kinds of endeavours." The female scientist stated flatly. "But that doesn't make working in some dank hidden away lab sound any more appealing."

"It's the best you can hope for at this time." The academic said bluntly. "I'd think even the worst laboratory imaginable would be much more agreeable a place to be than a prison cell. Wouldn't you say?"

Doctor Halsey stared at her colleague in mute ire for a few moments. "How do you plan to proceed from here anyway?" She then demanded.

"Well..." There was some almost unnoticeable hesitation in Cordalis' voice as he replied. "First we obviously need to get off this planet, then..."

"You don't really know, do you?" Halsey cut in forcefully. "You don't have a plan...or anything."

"Look, step by step." Cordalis said, indirectly confirming the female scientist's suspicion. "First we need to get off this world, then we'll take it from there." Obviously not willing to discuss what lay in the future for the both of them any further the professor turned around and stormed out of the room, muttering something about needing a bit of fresh air.

"God." Halsey moaned after the door had closed, falling back onto the mattress. For a minute she just stared at the ceiling in dismay then, to her surprise, Charlie suddenly spoke up.

"You know doctor." The AI said with a cool, impersonal voice. "I couldn't help but notice that the professor specifically said a dank lab, hidden away lab was the best _you_ could hope for in the future."

"You don't say." Halsey snapped sarcastically, glaring at the plastic and metal box.

"Aye." The AI said, undaunted by the poisonous remark. "It's almost as if he was planning to get rid of you at some point."

"Oh shut up you...you...!" The scientist shouted angrily. She wasn't quite sure who she was more annoyed with. The professor, the wise cracking AI or herself for being stupid enough to get in this situation in the first place. Whatever the case inwardly she had to admit that Charlie may have had a point. She _had_ noticed the professor's wording. "We'll see about that." She muttered so softly that is was barely audible. The female academic took a deep breath. She would have to watch her back a little more closely from now on.

* * *

"Network up an running, sir." Somewhat reluctantly Cyra gave up staring out the window and wonder how the cops down the road were passing their time as Kenji addressed her from behind. At times she felt an almost perverse glee, imagining how bored those flatfeet out there probably were in a 'sorrow share is a sorrow halved' sort of way. "We have a pretty decent coverage in and around the spaceport now. Couldn't do anything more than that with the resources we currently have." He reported apologetically.

"That's all right." The maiden was appalled as to how bad the Private looked. The young Human showed every possible sing of insomnia. Ever since they'd settled down in this abandoned building he'd worked pretty much non stop on this project, doing so with a fervour Cyra found a little puzzling. She patiently listened for a minute as he explained how to get any use out of the loose collection of micro cameras spread across a section of the city.

"Okay" She mumbled absently, fumbling around with the controls of the omni-tool program for a bit before she got the hand of it. "Right I got it." She looked up from the holographic projection. "Nicely done, Private. Now get yourself some rest."

He tiredly shook his head. "There's a couple of things I need to optimize, a few things I..."

"It works, right?" The Asari Lieutenant quickly cut in.

"Yes, but..."

"Then it's going to have to be good enough for now." The maiden said firmly. "You get yourself some sleep before you fall over from exhaustion, Private. That's an order."

"Aye sir. Thank you sir." The Human slurred a little as he turned around and shuffled away with what little energy he could still muster.

Cyra paid the closing door in her back no mind as she took a closer look at the program running in her omni tool. The interface was a bit clunky, the incoming video feed of inferior quality and yet the maiden was impressed with what she was seeing. Watanabe had managed to put all this together from scratch in about two day, complete with a rudimentary but working facial recognition system. The Private quite obviously was way, way better with computers than anybody had known before. Maybe, the maiden wondered, she check out the young man's background a little more closely once this business was all over and done with? Ah probably not. The man deserved his privacy as much as any other. After all it wasn't like she didn't have other things to worry about at this time.

Cyra shut off her omni-tool and stifled a yawn with one hand. If a familiar face was blundering into the field of view of their little, private camera net, she'd get notified. Yeah she'd probably take a quick nap herself. The maiden took one last look out the window, notified the Chief that she was going to get some rest, then retreated to the room she'd appropriated for herself. As she walked up the stairs she suddenly found herself wondering what Alex could be doing right now.

* * *

"Goldstein? McClane? Somebody come in." The speech quality of the incoming transmission was so bad that the male of the two marines didn't immediately recognize the voice of the caller. He was still trying to figure out who the person on the other end of the line was as he leaned against a stone pillar and unobtrusively raised one hand to his mouth. "Anybody there?" The man on the other end seemed to be a bit impatient.

"Present." Goldstein said dryly. "What's up?"

"We got a hit on our cams." Came the answer, as scratchy and choppy as the marine had only heard in very old vids. Damn cheap, low quality junk. "Check your two o'clock."

"A hit already?" McClane glanced in the direction that they'd been given, careful not to ogle too openly. The blonde activated her own radio. "Who should we be looking for?" She wanted to know. It was close to noon now and quite a decent crowd had assembled in the main hall. As far as the marines could tell most of the people were here for shopping and lunch, not because they wanted to go anywhere.

"Brown jacket, blue baseball cap." The still unidentified speaker on the other end provided some additional information. "Eating a...burrito I believe...?" He said hesitantly. Apparently the marines on site weren't the only ones struggling with the makeshift equipment.

Goldstein was scanning the crowd until his eyes locked onto the person that'd been described to them. "Who's that supposed to be?" He asked in a hushed voice. The guy on the other side of the hall with the burrito in his hand looked uttery unfamiliar.

"One of the mercs we had that scuffle with a couple of days ago." Came the reply. "At least if that bloody software is right.

Goldstein smirked absently. For a moment the transmission had been clear enough for him to identify the disgruntled voice on the other end as the Master Chief's. The N7 NCO wasn't the most technically-minded of persons as he'd left little doubt of in earlier conversations. "Right." Goldstein. exchanged a quick glance with McClane, then threw another look at their target. "So what are we supposed to do next?" He asked, his hand unwittingly moving towards the pistol tucked away in his waistband.

"Leave him alone for now." Charlton replied promptly. "Just follow him without attracting attention. Observe and report. Got it?"

"Roger that, Chief. Will do."

"So." McClane couldn't help but screwing up her beautiful face a little. "More standing around by the sound of it."

"What did you expect?" Goldstein raised an eyebrow. "Us marching over there, clubbing the guy over the head and then dragging him back to the 'house' by his feet?"

"Not really." The blonde snickered softly. "I guess, I was just hoping for a little action is all." She said half-jokingly.

"You really wanna get shot at again so soon?" The male marine asked. He found it fairly hard to see a funny side when it came to gun battles. "Oh, I forgot, you weren't in the thick of it last time. You were just chilling a couple of klicks away with the Master Chief."

"What's that supposed to mean?" McClane demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Nothing." Goldstein growled. "Doesn't mean anything." He had a pretty good scare when he glanced over to where their target was supposed to be and found the spot empty. "Shit where the heck is the guy?" He hissed as the two of them hectically began searching for the alleged merc. Both marines pretty much gushed a sigh of relief when they found him heading for the exit. "Let's stop fooling around, shall we?" Goldstein muttered under his breath. "We're not exactly maintaining a low profile."

"Fine, let's go."

* * *

The back alley was littered with all kinds of trash. Soggy, tattered remains of cardboard boxes, discarded pieces of non-functional electronic gear, empty bottles, fragments of glass and many more things were just lying about all over. It wasn't an area where high class housing was to be found, that was for certain.

The mercenary however did neither care about the refuse or the quality of the buildings around as he looked up and down the filthy alley one last time before he settled on one of the houses. He was barely through the door when he was greeted by an assault rifle pointing at his head.

"Hey Bill." The guy on the safe side of the gun said dryly. "Forgot to knock on the door huh?"

"Very funny mate." Bill snapped, casting and annoyed glare at the other merc. "Just take that thing outta my face and tell me where the boss is, will ya?"

"Ah, just can't get a decent bit of fun around here these days." The gun wielding man replied with and overstated sigh. "But fine, top floor."

"Thanks." Bill growled as he brushed past his buddy. He had neither the time nor the patience for the other merc's bullshit at the moment. He shot up several sets of stairs and got to the top with his breathing only slightly faster than normal. He almost ran into the female scientist when he was looking for the leader of his outfit. Bill briefly wondered what she was doing up here. The eggheads were billeted two stories below but then he remembered that the only working toilet was on this floor. "Boss?"

"In here." Came the glum answer out of a room at the end of the corridor. The mercenary leader didn't seem to be in a very good mood, barely looking up from his data pad when the man, he'd sent away to get some recon, entered the room. "Report."

"Haven't been able to find out much about the ship that landed, Sir." Bill began. "At least not when it came to hard facts. Most people I talked to just filled my head with rumours, rampant speculation and conspiracy theory nonsense. According to one of the guys working in the tower the ship had an official council call-sign. That's pretty much the only bit of real information I got."

"Council call-sign?" The merc leader echoed, for the first time really looking at his subordinate. "Perfect, juuust perfect." He growled. "Means we're stuck on this rock for a while longer at least. Thank you."

"Sir." Bill made no move to leave the room.

"Anything else?"

"Well...I may have been followed." Outside the room doctor Halsey, just coming out of the toilet, stopped and listened as the lower ranker mercenary described how he kept spotting the same couple on his way back. The scientist silently stood there as the sellswords speculated about who those people could be or if the merc had maybe only been imagining things. She remained in place a while longer, taking in every single bit of information that'd might prove useful later. Then she skulked away as silently as she could, not wanting the mercenaries to know that she'd been listening in. Very interesting what she'd heard. Very interesting indeed.

* * *

"Couldn't follow the guy into those back alleys." Goldstein finished his report, hoping he was getting through all right. You never knew with that cheap junk of a wireless unit. "He would have spotted us instantly."

"Understood." If there was any emotion in his squad leader's voice, the Private couldn't detect it in the mess that came back out of his earplug. The transmission was just clear enough for him to get the order to find a not too obvious place to monitor the alley until Petrow came along to bug the place.

"Ah well." McClane sighed softly. "More sitting around idly."

"Yeh I'm sorry you didn't get to shoot anything."

"Shut up, will ya?" The blonde gave her fellow marine a not too gentle poke in the shoulder. "I'm just not too keen on hanging around and stare at a whole lot of nothing that's all."

"You got anything better to do, Peppermint?" Goldstein wanted to know. "I'd think you got your fill of junkfood for today."

"Would you dicks stop calling me Peppermint, for crying out loud?"

"Nope."

* * *

"Goddamnit, Professor!" The mercenary leader exclaimed, as the scientist stormed into the room. As inconspicuously as he could he took his hand off the pistol, lying on the table before him. The academic didn't need to know that the energetic entrance had startled him quite a bit. "What the heck are you doing, running about up here?"

"Doctor Halsey's gone!" Cordalis spluttered breathlessly.

"Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?"

"Gone as in 'I can't find here anywhere' gone!" The scientist spat. "And no one had seen her in the past hour or two! For all I know she could be on her way to the cops to rat us out right now!"

The merc leaped off his chair immediately. "What!?"


	30. Chapter 30

"You can't trust that snake!" Lien seemed to feel much better today, Cyra noticed with dry amusement. The Human girl basically made an assault on her as soon as she came out of the room, she'd questioned doctor Halsey in. "That bitch was there on her own free will! Certainly when I was being held in that bloody building!"

"Hey calm down, all right?" The maiden held up a restraining hand, although she could definitely understand why the other female was so agitated. "I'll take everything the doctor said with a grain of salt, don't you worry about that." Cyra turned to her second in command. "Chief, have everyone suit up and ready to go as quickly as possible, move."

"But...!" Lien started to protest as the Master Chief hurried off with a curt 'got it'.

"We can't just ignore what Halsey said either." The Asari Lieutenant snapped brusquely. "If there's a chance that the professor and his cronies really are where she claims they are we have to check it out. Right away. Don't think they'll stay in place for long once they notice that the doctor's made herself scarce."

"What if it's some kind of trap...you know something like that."

Cyra smiled thinly. The archaeology student obviously – and understandably - had developed quite the dislike for the Halsey woman and that was putting it mildly. "The good doctor doesn't seem like the type to play the sacrificial lamb just to lure us into a trap, does she?"

"Well no...but..."

"We'll be careful." Cyra assured the younger female. Walked over to the door and peeked into the main living room, checking how far along with the gearing up her people were. "I'll leave one of my marines here to ensure that the doctor doesn't bugger off as soon as we're gone." She pondered for a moment, then pulled her sidearm out of the holster, checked it briefly, then held it out to the Human. "Know how to handle that?"

Lien immediately took a step back. "No." She said firmly. "Not touching that. No way."

"Are you sure?" Cyra wanted to know, tilting her head to the side a little. "Given all that has happened..."

"Yes, I'm sure." The student confirmed loudly. "I would be probably more of a hazard to myself than to any 'bad guys' with a gun in my hand." She nervously ran a hand through her long, black hair. "Besides, I doubt it would have made any difference if I was waving around a gun earlier. Probably would have gotten myself killed."

Cyra locked eyes with the other woman. "Okay." The maiden holstered the pistol again. "As you will. Watanabe!" She shouted towards the living room.

It took the Private a few moments to get over and he hadn't quite finished to put on his gear, fumbling about with one of his armoured gauntlets. "Sir?"

Kenji looked a little disappointed when he got the order to hold the fort, monitor their small sensor net and to keep an eye on the doctor. He'd expected something like this but had held out some hope that he'd get to go in with the squad. It was quite likely that there was going to be a firefight and while the marine didn't particularly want to get shot at, having to watch his buddies take the heat without being able to do much about it was worse.

With a sigh the young man took his helmet back off and watched as his squad mates moved out one by one. Since he had nothing else to do at the moment he activated his omni tool and checked his little net, watching a garbage truck move about and collect the refuse from several collection points in odd fascination.

* * *

"Boss, we have incoming."

The mercenary leader cursed under his breath as he received the call from one of his subordinates. If only they'd managed to pack their stuff and move out more quickly, he pondered as he banged on the table. He pulled himself together. Now was not the time to cry over spilt milk. "Police?" He asked, his voice a bit raspy.

"Don't think so." Came the answer. "They look to be too well equipped to be cops. Could be the guys that kicked us out of the lab complex."

_'Goddamnit!' _The high ranking merc swore inwardly. "Where are they coming from? Any chance we can still slip away?"

The man on the other end of the line gave him a short overview at to where the armed opposition was coming from and how close they were. "If we move right now we might be able to bugger off unscathed." He finished the hastily spoken report.

The mercenary leader didn't need any more encouragement and switched to the main unit channel immediately. "Everybody assemble at the main door right away, drop everything and move! Let's go people!" They'd have to leave behind quite a bit of their gear but that was preferable to letting themselves getting bogged down in a firefight with a well equipped squad of soldiers without knowing whether there were more of their kind on the way.

"What is going on?" Professor Cordalis looked a little unkempt, coming out of his room as the mercenary commander hurried down the stairs.

"Get your stuff and get ready to go." The sellsword barked. "And hurry the fuck up. Looks like your colleague managed to sick the dogs on us."

"Already?" The academic blurted out incredulously.

"I thought we were going to have a bit more time as well." The merc growled. "But it is as it is. Now move it!"

* * *

One last time Cyra checked the map as they closed in on the objective, just to make absolutely certain they were in the right place. One of these dirty back alleys looked just like any other and she didn't want to barge into the wrong house. All around her the marines shifted slightly, watching their surroundings attentively as their commander got her bearings. "All right." The maiden softly said after a few moments. "Move..."

"_Heads up, Lieutenant." _The call from Private Watanabe sounded urgent enough that Cyra immediately shut up and listened. _"You've got some armed men coming up on your rear. Almost looks as if they're following you."_

"Armed men?" The maiden echoed somewhat lamely as the marines at the rear of the small column moved about to find some better cover. "What the heck? Police? Merc reinforcements? How many?"

"_Half a dozen as far as I can see. Can't really say who they are though." _Cyra could hear the unease in the Private's voice as he replied. _"They're not cops that's about all I can tell you right now. Or if they are they got to be the best equipped ones I've ever seen."_

"Copy that." The young Asari turned around and glanced down the way they'd come from. She couldn't see anyone just yet. "Find yourselves some decent cover, people." She commanded. "And hold your fire. Let's see who they are."

"_Movement in the alley ahead."_ Another call from the squad's makeshift base of operations made things a lot more tense instantly. _"I can see some of the mercs..." _There was a minute break in the transmission. _"There's the professor with the mobile unit. Looks like they trying to make a run for it."_

"Roger that." The maiden hissed, cursing under her own breath as she was trying to figure out the best course of action. She couldn't just ignore the armed party in the squad's back but if she hadn't her people move in on the mercenaries at once they would slip away and heaven knew if they'd be able to relocate them again. "Chief!"

"Sir?" Charlton barely moved a muscle as he was addressed and kept scanning the alley ahead. There had been no time for him to set up a decent sniping position so he was with the squad today, wielding a regular gun instead of his sniper rifle.

"Take two men and move in on the mercs!" Cyra snapped. She thought she could see some movement in the marines' rear. "Try to keep them in place while we deal with the guys in our back, understood?"

"Got it." The veteran replied curtly. "McClane! Goldstein! You're with me! Let's go!"

As the three marines scurried away the Asari maiden took a quick look at their position. She couldn't see the potential incoming threat directly yet. Only a few shadows moving in the alley. The maiden ducked down behind a rusty dumpster. The four marines were in pretty good cover and decently concealed. Nevertheless Cyra's heart began to beat considerably faster as she could hear rustling coming from down the alley.

"There they are." Petrow whispered, peering through a gap between two wooden boxes.

"Let them come a little closer. Remember don't shoot." The maiden whispered as she took a closer look at the one armoured figure she could see. There were no markings on the anywhere to be seen on the combat suit but the young Asari instinctively knew that these weren't mercenaries. Nevertheless she raised her weapon to her shoulder, ready to shoot as she partially stepped out of her cover. "Hold it right there!"

The armed figure at the point of the approaching group, a male Human by the looks of it, froze instantly. For an endless moment no one in the the alley seemed to move a muscle then Cyra took a deep breath. "Identify yourself!" The maiden snarled, the red dot of her targeting optic firmly resting on the man's head.

Nothing happened at first and Cyra was about to repeat herself when one of her own kind stepped into view. "Telia Sederis, council spectre." The Asari said, lowering her own weapon a tiny bit. "And who might you be?"

"Lieutenant Shepard, alliance marines."

"Ah yes. I thought it could be you." Cyra couldn't help but frown at the haughty inflection she perceived in the spectre's answer. "I heard you might be in the area somewhere..." The other Asari interrupted herself for effect before she continued with a bit of a sneer. "Even though your superiors received specific orders to drop any operations regarding the artificial sentience immediately."

"Well, you didn't seem to mind when we led you right to it." Cyra growled. It was a shot in the dark but the other Asari made no attempt to deny the maiden's assumption. Nor was she the slightest bit apologetic about it.

"I will admit that it would have taken us a bit longer to get a fix on the objective's location without you people." The spectre shrugged nonchalantly. Her congener's overbearing attitude began to vex Cyra a bit. Before anybody could say anything else however, a gun battle kicked off in another alley only lasting for a few seconds before it suddenly stopped. "What the hell was that?" The spectre demanded. "Are your people moving in on the target?"

"Chief?" Cyra called her second in command, ignoring the other Asari. "What's going on there? Report!"

The maiden was distantly aware that the other party moved up as she had to wait for a few moments until the NCO replied. _"We...We've got a little problem here, LT." _Came the somewhat flustered answer. Cyra's heart rate quickened by at least ten beats a minute. _"Our suits are screwed up."_

"What?" The maiden blurted out, not knowing what to make of this. "What do you mean: 'screwed up'?"

"_I don't know what the fuck is going on. Helmet displays are cluttered with all kinds of shit." _Came the answer in a strained voice._"Can't see a fucking thing! We..."_

"What are you up to?" Cyra was more than just a little mad that the spectre prevented her from understanding the rest of the Chief's transmission. Hissing a curse she shook off the other Asari's hand from her shoulder and pushed her away.

"You don't wanna do something like that." The male Human snapped as Cyra found herself staring at the dangerous end of his rifle. "Unless you..."

"You don't wanna do something like that either." Thanks to her long arms, Kelly was able to shut the man up by pressing the muzzle of her heavy shotgun again the side of his neck. "Unless _you_ wanna lose your head."

All of a sudden it got very, very quiet in the alley, the situation frozen in a series of what Humans liked to call 'Mexican standoffs'. The Asaris, being stuck in the middle, glanced around cautiously, careful not to make any quick movements.

"Look." Gun all around got lowered a tiny bit as Cyra made an effort to keep her voice neutral, despite of a lack of sympathy for the fellow member of her species. "The mercs are on the move but we can still prevent them from slipping a..."

"You managed to spook them?" The spectre spat venomously. "Perfect, juuust perfect. Why couldn't you just wait for us to..."

"Hey, a minute ago we didn't even know you were around!" Cyra snarled angrily. The spectre was really beginning to annoy her. "How the hell did you find us in the first..." She interrupted herself, taking a deep breath to cool off. This really wasn't the time to bicker. "Listen." The maiden said as calmly as she possibly could. "If we work together we might be able to catch them."

"No, thank you." The other Asari scoffed. "We'll handle this ourselves. You people have screwed up enough already."

"What!? We what?!" Cyra's voice increased in pitch by at least an octave, the spectre's allegation making her blood boil. "No, we didn't you piece of..." The maiden regained a hold of her temper just in time to keep herself from getting abusive. Inwardly she chastised herself for letting the other Asari get under her skin this much.

"There's really no need to get all worked up, young one." Having only just cooled off somewhat the patronizing remark of the spectre caused Cyra's blood pressure to rise right back up again but she managed to restrain herself. "Pull your people back, call in a transport and go home. We'll take it from here." The older Asari paused for the blink of an eye. "That was an order by the way."

"You're not in a position to give me any orders." Cyra objected immediately. "You don't have the authority."

"Technically not, no." The spectre admitted. "However, if the council should hear from _someone_ that the AI could not be secured because you stood in the way of one of their agents...Not to threaten you but I don't think that would be very beneficial to your career. You do understand that don't you?"

In mute rage Cyra eyed the other Asari through half closed eyes. She was actually half thinking to make that spectre bitch regret having her visor open by wiping that smug smirk off the other woman's face with her first. Unfortunately the longer the two parties stood opposite one another like cats and dogs, the more time professor Cordalis and his mercenaries had to get away and getting the AI back _was_ the reason they were here in the first place. Didn't really matter who brought it in, did it? As much as she hated to back down in this case, Cyra decided it was best to swallow her pride and be reasonable.

"Fine." She growled, taking a step back. "You want a crack at the those guys back there..." She made a vague gesture towards her rear. "...there you go." The tension in the alley slowly evaporated as the spectre and her team moved past the marines. "Chief, abort the op, pull back, I say again, pull back. Get your asses to my position at once, people. And by the way, you've got 'friendlies'..." Cyra spat out that last word in the same tone of voice she'd use if she'd fallen into a heap of dung. "...headed your way. Stay as far a way from them as you possibly can." She couldn't resist to open her visor and raise her voice as she glared at the back of the other party's rear guard. "You might catch something nasty." There was no indication that the Turian had heard her. Too bad. _'Stop acting like a pouty child.' _Cyra sighed softly. She wasn't going to forget this encounter any time soon, that much was certain.

* * *

"So you just let them waltz right past you?" Lien asked.

"What was I supposed to do? Shoot at them?" Cyra demanded. She didn't really owe the student an explanation. The confrontation with the spectre still fresh in her mind however, the maiden got a little defensive about it.

"Well, no but..." The young Human let out her breath with a sharp 'bah'. "I don't know." Having gotten proper rest and several decent doses of antibiotics she was a lot more lively now. "I guess I just don't like the idea that someone else is getting to slap the professor about." That statement and the growl with which it was delivered surprised the Asari quite a bit. Granted she didn't know her boyfriend's assistant all that well but the Human female never struck her as the particularly aggressive or violent kind. "And I would have liked to see Charlie again."

"That spectre and her cronies don't have him just yet." The maiden growled. "Something tells me the whole thing won't be nearly as easy as the good lady probably thinks it is."

"Huh?" Lien looked at the taller female with a suspicious frown on her face. "What makes you say that?"

"Just a gut feeling." The maiden shrugged. "Somehow I doubt this particular AI is out of surprises just yet...And I've just about had enough of this shit." In a bit of a foul mood because of the occurrences in the alley Cyra stomped over to one of the windows and stared out. "Where the heck were those cops anyway?" She demanded loudly. "Weren't they supposed to keep an eye on us? Didn't even follow us into those alleys, the pussies!" Nobody said anything, the marines exchanging uneasy glances in the awkward silence for a few minutes. The Lieutenant looked like she wanted to snap somebody's head off and no one was eager to be the one to take the heat.

"Speaking of surprises." Master Chief Charlton had enough experience in dealing with officers to know when he could speak up without risking disaster. He pointed at one of their helmets, lying on one of the small, integral tables, evenly spread around this particular room. When she'd seen this room first Cyra had wondered what it'd been used for. Right now, however, she didn't give a damn.

"Ah yes, then there's that." Cyra grunted. "Found the reason why your suit computers suddenly decided to throw a hissy fit?"

"I'm afraid, I didn't." The chief hastily proceeded to explain as he noticed the Lieutenant's face darkening. "We've tested all of them and we couldn't reproduce the issue. They're working perfectly. The veteran marine grimaced, absently scratching the back of his neck. "All I can really say is...Well unless the three of us had the absolute worst luck I've ever seen, it's pretty safe to say that this wasn't a coincidence. What was particularly weird...It all started right when we pulled the trigger. Made shooting with any degree of accuracy completely impossible. It's almost as if our suit computers simply didn't want us to go to battle right there."

"Some kind of new jamming technology?" The Asari Lieutenant probed.

"Maybe..." The Master Chief drawled with a doubtful look on his face. "Our helmet displays _did _clear up when the mercs were away but...Heck I've never even heard a whisper about something like that. Kinda hard to believe that some nondescript merc unit would have such a technology when nobody else does."

"Yeah." Cyra took a few moments to digest the information. "Charlie?"

"That would be my guess." The NCO said. "I have no idea how this bunch of integrated circuits did it but yes, that's the best explanation I can think of right now."

"Oh, for crying out loud..."The young Asari felt the rest of her anger subside as she puffed up her cheeks. "What the heck it this bloody hotchpotch all about...?"

"Well." Lien chimed in from the side. "Charlie just doesn't want to be 'rescued'."

"Really?" The archaeology student blushed a little as each and every set of eyes in the room was suddenly fixed on her. "Did he tell you that?" Petrow wanted to know jokingly.

"Err..." Cyra's eyes narrowed quite a bit as Lien hesitated, obviously taking the question seriously. "...Not directly no."

"What is that supposed to mean? You know something we don't?" The maiden asked, giving the smaller woman a suspicious look. Not waiting for an answer Cyra took the student by the upper arm and, not too gently, dragged her towards the door. "I'd say it's time the two of us had a little chat." She said in a tone that didn't make it advisable to disagree. "Wouldn't you say?" Just before the door closed behind her, the maiden turned around to bark an order. "And somebody get the doctor to the top. I wanna hear what she's got to say about this as well."

* * *

"Who are these other guys?" Professor Cordalis asked as he was trying to catch his breath. The fugitive group had been trying to lose whoever was on their tail by going on a steeplechase through dirty alleys and backyards.

"No fucking clue." The leader of the mercenaries snapped as her threw a look over his shoulder. Right now he couldn't see anyone behind them but he didn't allow himself to relax. He had the small group stop briefly, checking what shape his men were in. "It's not important right now anyway. I'm much more interested as to why our helmet displays suddenly stopped working properly." He barked, giving each of his subordinates a hard stare. All he got for an answer, however, were just helpless shrugs and blank looks. "Fine, move out. About one more klick to the spaceport perimeter. Let's hustle people."

It didn't take very long for the rogue academic to start lagging behind a bit and the mercenary leader actually had to turn around and run back to get him, unstintingly hissing curses through clenched teeth. "Come on, we've got to hurry." He said with as much restraint as he could muster, half thinking to give the scientist a nice firm kick in the rear to motivate him. Instead he put one hand on the panting man's back and began to push him. "You know, professor." He said as he kept throwing the occasional glance over his shoulder. "If you intend to continue to run from law enforcement, you may want to do something about your physical fitness."

"So I keep telling the good man." Charlie remarked, sounding awfully smug in the scientist's ears. "Alas he doesn't listen to me."

Cordalis was out of puff and couldn't offer a reaction to the AI's quip. The merc on the other hand didn't know what to make of the machine the academic was carrying around so he didn't say anything either. The small group moved another five or six hundred meters until their leader had them briefly stop once more with the space port in sight.

"Think we lost them?" The scientist managed to cough after he got to catch his breath

"Maybe. If we're lucky." The merc leader said with a shrug. "If we're not they're anticipating where we're going and will try to cut us off."

"So, what now?"

"Now we hope that there isn't too much security around that ship." The other man stated flatly. "Bloody poor choice we have at this point, don't we?" He added with a frosty smile as he noticed the surprised look the academic gave him. "This fucking bucked of bolts should better be as good at cracking electronic locks as you claim it is, professor."

"Thanks you bloody bag of carbon compounds."

* * *

"Any idea what Charlie actually wants?" Cyra asked as she wearily rubbed her temples.

"I don't know..." Lien interrupted herself when she noticed the sceptical look the Asari gave her. "Honestly!" She exclaimed, a little offended that the other woman apparently didn't fully believe her words. "I mean, I don't think he's plotting our demise if that's what you're asking. Up to his point he's never let it show that genocide was on his agenda at least." She ended somewhat sarcastically.

"How do you know?"

"I don't _know_ all right?" The Human female said. "It's a...Well, it's a gut feeling." She added with an ironic smirk. "Charlie doesn't

"I'm actually genuinely curious." The maiden sighed. "If nothing else it might give this whole bloody mess some meaning. You know..."

Cyra stopped when she heard a whoosh coming from the direction of the spaceport. She got to the window just in time to see a black starship roaring skywards. Did that spectre really accomplish the mission already? She was surprised as to how much that thought dismayed her. Had that bitch and her cronies really already accomplished what she herself hadn't been able to all this time? Her temper threatening to get the better of her, Cyra stormed out of the room and headed downstairs.

Everybody in the main room stopped doing whatever they were doing and looked up as their Lieutenant burst through the door, her face thunderous. "What's going on at the spaceport?" The maiden demanded. "These guys already bagged 'em?"

Kenji fired up his omni-tool and took a look at his camera network, checking recorded as well as live footage. Petrow, casually glancing over his fellow marine's shoulder, suddenly began to chuckle. "Hey LT." He waved Cyra over. "Check this out."

Curious as to what the Private found so funny the young Asari walked over and eyeballed the holographic screen. The rest of the squad quickly joined them when Cyra began to snicker as well. The projection showed the Asari spectre and her entourage hanging around on the spaceport tarmac, looking really unhappy.

"Wait a minute." Guzzman blurted out incredulously, the medic speaking everyone's mind. "Did these guys just got their ship nicked? Right from under their noses?"

"Yep that's what it looks like." Petrow snorted as everyone in the room, Cyra included, had a good laugh at their competitors' expense. That this of course meant that the professor and more importantly Charlie had eluded them yet again didn't matter at this very moment. The maiden knew that she was being a bit petty, gloating because of the other party's misfortune but she didn't care. Laughing her frustration away just felt way too good and she certainly didn't feel bad for the spectre. Cyra couldn't remember developing such a strong dislike for someone in such a short time as she had for this particular member of her species. _'Probably not as haughty any more, the bitch. Wonder how she's going to explain that to the council.'_ She thought with dark amusement, basking in schadenfreude for a moment longer before she pulled herself together.

To wallow in glee didn't improve hers or her squad's situation after all. They were now hanging around on an underdeveloped fringe world and really didn't have a mission any more.

"LT?"

"Hm?" As Cyra turned around she found the Master Chief standing behind her.

"What now?" He asked as if he'd read her thoughts. "Seems to me that we're fresh out of a mission."

"Yeah..." The maiden drawled."I'd say we've spent just about enough time on this rock, wouldn't you agree, Chief?"

"Absolutely, Sir."

"I'll call HQ and request a pick up." She noticed that all her marines were intently looking at her. "Time to go home, people."

* * *

When Ashley woke up she felt somewhat disoriented. For the first time in months, she'd slept all through the night. No demons had come by to plague her in the darkness. No gruesome nightmares had caused her to wake up screaming. A good night's sleep? The maiden had almost forgotten what that felt like.

Ashley felt a little stiff as she got out of the bed and took a few minutes to stretch thoroughly. How did she get here anyway? The maiden couldn't remember going to bed. Things were a bit of a blur at this time. _'Ah whatever.' _She shook her head and walked over to the dresser, rummaging around in it to find some clothing that suited her momentary taste. She could try to figure out what happened later. Right now Ashley felt like going to the kitchen and empty the fridge. For some reason she was awfully hungry.

The young Asari left her room, walking through the apartment with a spring in her step. The maiden didn't quite know why but she felt better than she had in a long, long time. Her big sister's boyfriend looked up, putting his datapad down when he saw her coming.

"Ashley?" The Human seemed to be surprised to see her.

"Hey, Alex." Her mind fixed on getting herself some nourishment the Asari didn't stop to talk, instead proceeding to the kitchen quickly. She immediately gobbled down the first piece of food – some obscure kind of meat - she came across, trying to appease her growling stomach as she basically looted the fridge. For a moment she stared at some ready-to-eat meals, wondering if she should just throw one of those in the microwave and be done with it. It would certainly be faster than cooking something the traditional way. But no, she wanted something decent, not some mass produced schlock. "Hey Alex?" She called as she fumbled about with pots and pans.

"Hm?" The Human appeared in the kitchen door a few moments later.

"I'm just cooking myself something." Ashley announced. "You hungry?"

"Err..." Her question seemed to bamboozle him somewhat. "Not really..." He replied hesitantly.

"Come on." The young Asari threw him a challenging look as she began to peel potatoes. "I don't wanna eat all by myself."

He looked at her strangely for a few moments. "All right." He walked over and rummaged through a few drawers, eventually producing a second peeler. "What kind of meal do you have in mind?"

* * *

"Well, you certainly seem to know what you're doing." Ashley remarked as a pleasant smell reached her nostrils, watching the archaeologist taste the sauce he was casually stirring.

"Surprised?" Alex grinned boyishly as he threw her a wink.

"Not surprised..." The maiden drawled. "Just kinda never thought about your skill set beyond the obvious is all."

"Yeah, I'm afraid, I didn't get to do a whole lot of cooking as of late." The scientist waved Ashley over and asked her to get a taste of his sauce. "But when I get the time too...I enjoy it."

"That's really good, doc." The maiden eyed her sister's boyfriend with new appreciation. "You should cook more often, seriously." Alex had to smile at the unspoken instigation in the Asari's statement.

"Yeah well you girls are a little overwhelming at times, especially Hannah." The archaeologist grinned. "So I prefer to take a back seat and just watch most of the time. I mean, no offence, but when Hannah is in the kitchen things do seem to get a bit dangerous."

"No offence taken, doc." Ashley laughed loudly. It was the healthy, cheerful laughter one hadn't heard from her in a long time. "Sibling love aside...Yeah Hannah _can _appearquite the health hazard when a lot of sharp, metal things are lying about. I freely admit that." The maiden's wrinkled her brow as she thought about her youngest sister some more. "The funny thing is: Despite all her horsing around she's never hurt anyone. Not directly anyway."

"What do you mean 'not directly'?"

"You know sometime people would try to copy what she was doing and _then_ they'd hurt themselves." She reflectively scratched the tip of her nose. "But yeah was never directly responsible for any injuries. At least as far as I can remember."

"Interesting." Was all that the scientist said in reply.

Ashley almost forgot to check if her own creation was about ready but luckily she remembered to turn the oven off in time. The two of them had agreed to split the responsibilities for preparing the food. The young Asari did a potato casserole and the salad, Alex the meat and the sauce. The only problem was that now, after having tasted one half of the result of the Human's efforts - the meat looked and smelled absolutely delicious as well – she was now a little apprehensive about the quality of her own cooking.

Ashley threw the scientist a surreptitious look when they finally sat down in the living room and started eating but if Alex thought poorly about the food he was too much of a gentleman to say anything. With an imperceptible shrug the maiden shoved a spoonful of salad in her mouth. Well, she liked it. Period.

"Where is everybody, anyway?" She eventually asked the question that'd been on her mind for a while.

"Rhea took Rose...I don't precisely know where...?" The archaeologist replied, talking rather slowly. "I think she's just showing her around a bit. Getting their minds off...things...you know..."

"I see..." Ashley momentarily didn't know what to say.

"Look, they were worried about you." Alex explained. "I mean, we all were...I mean you slept for almost two days after..."

"What?" The maiden nearly chocked on her food upon hearing that. "I've been asleep for two...?" She managed stutter between coughs.

"Well, actually a bit over a day an a half." The scientist corrected himself. "But you get the picture."

"A day and a half..." Ashley drawled. "What the...No wonder I felt so stiff."

"Seemed as if you needed to catch up on some sleep." Alex observed dryly.

"Yeah..." For a few moments the young Asari blankly stared at a very distant, imaginary point on an imaginary horizon.

"How are you?" The scientist asked, eyeing the maiden somewhat tensely when she didn't immediately answer. "You okay?"

"I...I think so..." Ashley kept the blank stare going for a bit longer then suddenly began to smile, albeit a bit weakly so. "I'll be fine...Thanks." She breathed deeply then got busy with her plate. "Damn doc!" She exclaimed after her first mouthful of meat, startling her sister's boyfriend quite a bit. "You know, if you don't wanna dig up the ground on some remote world anymore, you could be a chef."

"Yeah, I don't think so." Alex snickered. "I mean, I like to think my cooking is at least decent but..."

"You're being too modest, doctor." Ashley objected with an impish smile. "If I was a millionaire, I'd hire you on the spot."

"That's very kind of you. I mean I've got no idea why you figure you'd need to be a millionaire for that but thanks anyway." The archaeologist laughed loudly. "Should I ever tire of archaeology, I'll let you know."

"You do that." The maiden grinned as she briefly let her eyes wander over all the food on the table. "You know, doc." She remarked dryly. "We may have gone a little overboard with the food."

"Plenty of leftovers for the others." The scientist pointed out."I'm sure they won't mind."

"Yeah probably not." Ashley smiled. "Hey speaking of which, where's Hannah, anyway?

"I have absolutely no idea." Alex shrugged, munching on salad. "She just said something about being bored and was out the door before I could even open my mouth to reply."

"That's Hannah for ya."


	31. Chapter 31

"Sir?"

Joker didn't react right away as he heard his aide entering the office and continued staring our of the window. Thanks to a lengthy radio transmission from Cyra barely an hour ago he had a pretty good idea as to why Lieutenant Quinzel had decided to come in here. And he really wasn't in a hurry to talk to the council, or any other kind of politician, yet again. He'd had to deal way to often with them as of late. Certainly for his liking.

"Admiral, the council..." Harleen began anew.

"Yes, the council." Joker echoed with an unwilling sigh. "I know...They got their knickers in a twist...again."

"So it would seem." It took the young woman some effort to suppress a snicker. Her boss' obvious and unapologetic lack of respect for many of his superiors as well as the politicians running the galaxy never failed to amuse her. "They've asked you to..." Harleen interrupted herself and got serious."No, that's probably too weak a term...They've _summoned _you to the council chambers. And by the sound of it they're not willing to wait."

"Oh-ho." The old Admiral grimaced. He'd hoped that the council was going to be content to settle the issue over holo-connection. "They wanna read me the riot act in person, huh? Ah well, If that's what they need to get off these days..." Once again Lieutenant Quinzel found herself struggling to hold back her laughter. One didn't hear a whole lot of this tongue-in-cheek kind of parlance elsewhere in the alliance military staff. Which was of course one of the reasons why she liked this assignment so much. "Well, let's go then, Lieutenant."

"You want me come along, sir?" The aide said, mildly taken aback as the Admiral slowly floated towards the door on his chair.

"Harleen, you don't expect me to go to the citadel tower and collect a major bollocking without some kind of moral support, do you?" The Admiral asked with an impish smirk.

"Well err...no..." The young woman replied lamely.

"Good, then you're coming with me." Joker said briskly as the automatic door silently opened in front of him. "'Cause it's either that or I'm getting drunk first."

* * *

"You're not going to pin this one on my people!" A good hour later, at the top of the citadel tower, Joker's mood was taking a nose dive and the increased volume of his voice reflected it. Harleen couldn't help but cringe a little. The first fifteen minutes of the 'audience' had gone reasonably well. Basically it had been a simple, clinical recount of the incidents leading to the AI's escape, told from two different perspectives. Now however things were beginning to get heated. "It's not their fault that your spectre..." The Admiral pointed an accusing finger at the projection of the Asari. "...had her head too far up her own rear to agree to cooperate!" The spectre's holographic image wavered ever so slightly as she drew breath to reply but Joker didn't let her. "If she had we wouldn't be here, would we?"

"Your people weren't supposed to be there in the first place!" The Asari spat as she finally could get a word in. The whole affair had made her look really bad and the spectre was now in full damage control mode. "If your marines hadn't spooked them, we wouldn't be here either." She growled. "It's because of them the targets moved before we were in position and properly set up."

"You know perfectly well that that's not true." Joker objected loudly. "With that doctor..." He had to think of for a second, the rogue scientist's name not coming to his mind right away. "...Halsey I believe? Anyway, with her gone it was only a matter of time before professor Cordalis and his goons were going to get out of there." He threw the holographic Asari a venomous look. "If you hadn't had my marines to steer you in you wouldn't have found them in time. And lest we forget..." The old Admiral allowed himself a sarcastic smirk. "...without your superhero to provide a means of transportation they would have found it much more difficult to get off world."

"That also would never have happened without your people interfering..."

"Interfering!?" Joker shouted. "I'm sorry what? _My_ people interfered? You self righteous..."

"Admiral Moreau! That would be enough! " The Human councillor cut in vigorously, afraid that things were about to get out of hand. "Obviously there has been a bit of a clash between our subordinates which was very unfortunate." Only with the greatest of efforts did Joker manage to refrain himself from letting out a naughty snort. Although he was felling awfully confrontational, the more reasonable part of his mind figured that there was no use to inflame the situation any further. "But be that as it may. You were asked by this council to stop any operations with the goal of apprehending the artificial sentience immediately. Obviously you didn't." The councillor pressed the fingertips of both hands together. "Why?"

"My marines were already on site." Joker suppressed a sigh. Talking to a politician he sometimes felt as if he was talking to a child. "They had a decent idea as to where the professor and his hired guns were hiding and on top of that they'd already had a scuffle with those very same mercs and knew exactly what they were up against." He threw each of the council members a teasing look. "Now I don't know about you but pulling Lieutenant Shepard and her people back in this kind of situation did seem to be a bit foolish. So I didn't. Despite your hmm...suggestion. I mean the point of all of this is to get a hold of the AI, isn't it? I mean unless _who_ is bringing it in is of supreme importance to you."

"You are of course aware that that was a little more than a mere suggestion, aren't you Admiral?"

"I am councillor." Joker showed a sleepy smile. He was really not in the mood to play cat and mouse games with the council so he decided to be blunt. "You want someone other than your spectre to lay the blame for this mess on, I'm your guy. The order was mine. Period."

"You misunderstand us, Admiral." That was the Asari councillor. "We're not trying to blame anyone for what happened. We merely want to understand what went wrong so that steps can be taken to prevent something similar from happening again."

_'Sure you do.' _In the past, whenever someone would say something along the lines that 'with age came wisdom', Joker would usually remark that he himself was an exception to this rule. At this very moment however the Admiral was wise enough not to say out loud what was going through his head. _'Get to the bloody point, will ya?' _He thought with a very slight scowl as he kept silent and listened to the Asari councillor.

Unfortunately the council didn't do him this favour. For at least ten more minutes pleasantries and empty phrases were flung through the council chamber, Joker wishing to be somewhere else the whole time. He was immeasurably grateful when him and his aide were finally dismissed.

"That went better than expected." Lieutenant Quinzel remarked under her breath as the alliance officers walked down the stairs from the council chambers. "They didn't even...you know...make any more 'suggestions'."

"Yeah it went really well." The young woman was caught flat footed by the blistering sarcasm in the Admiral's voice. "Like _really_ well, yes ma'am, _really_..." Joker interrupted himself and took a breath. The Lieutenant was the wrong target for his ire. None of this was even remotely her fault after all. "Sorry Harleen." He threw his aide an apologetic look. "The council tends to make me a wee bit grumpy."

"You don't think it went well in there, sir?"

"No, dammit it didn't, not really." The Admiral growled. His aide had obviously not learned to deal with politicians just yet. "I mean outwardly it may have appeared that way but...Let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if we got a visit from some high ranking official from our own government fairly soon."

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand."

"Well, unless I'm terribly mistaken, the council simply wanted to know if they could bully me into withdrawal." As they entered the elevator, Joker closed his eyes for a moment letting his head rest against his floating chair. "And I'm pretty sure they figured that 'diplomatic action' on their part was more promising." He snickered softly at the dumbfounded look on his aide's face. Now that they were headed for the citadel towed exit his mood improved somewhat. "It's a bloody shark pool in there, Harleen." He said soberly. "Be glad that you don't have to deal with the 'galaxy's elite'."

"I got a lot left to learn, I suppose." The female Lieutenant mumbled, chewing on her lower lip lost in thought.

"I wouldn't be in a hurry to become an expert in this particular field if I were you." Joker said flatly. "I'm sure the universe can do without one more cynic for the time being just fine."

Harleen was still thinking about the Admiral's words when the two alliance officers stepped out of the elevator and onto the presidium grounds. Therefore it took the young woman a while to notice that her direct superior was apparently pondering about something himself. "What is it, sir?" She wanted to know.

"Hm?"

"You seem to be brooding over something." Harleen observed. "Anything wrong, sir?"

"You mean other than this whole cluster fuck with the AI?" Joker let his eyes wander over the presidium lake and breathed deeply, letting the cool, clean air fill his lungs. "I was just kinda wondering what the heck was wrong with that spectre. Why would she blow off Shepard like that?" He scowled, rubbing his forehead with thumb and index finger. "I mean working together to capture the objective would have been a reasonable call. Hell I'd even got as far as to say the _only_ reasonable call. Does that woman have an axe to grind with the alliance? Or with Shepard?"

"I've got no idea." Harleen shrugged, knowing full well that the Admiral didn't actually expect her to have the answer. "I wasn't under the impression that the two of them met before though." She added. "Should I make some inquiries when we get back?"

Joker mulled over that for a moment. It wasn't very likely that his aide would be able to find out a whole lot. The council saw to it that any kind of solid information about any of their agents was hard to come by. Still, every little bit Harleen could find out could prove useful. "Yeah, I'd say that would be a good idea."

* * *

"So what's next?" Cyra inquired, leaning back in her chair after she'd finished her report. It was pretty much a repeat of the account she'd given over secure connection earlier, enriched with a bit of personal flavour.

"We wait and see." Joker shrugged. It was good twenty-four hours since the showdown in the council chambers and the Admiral was far more relaxed than the day before. "It's now the spectres' turn to try and get our artificial friend back."

"That's it?" The young Asari spat venomously. "We're to pack it all in and leave the field to the council's goons?" She snapped her fingers. "Just like that?"

"I'm afraid so. CINC was very specific about that." Joker absently scratched his bearded chin. "As a matter of fact he's on his way here to talk to little me in person. You know, just to make sure that I get it the message."

"Marvellous." Cyra snarled. "Bloody marvellous."

"Don't like that, huh?" The old human hid a smirk behind his hand as he eyed his niece with affection. The question had of course been a rhetorical one. The irate look on Cyra's face made her opinion perfectly obvious.

"I don't like these...the fucking spectres muscling..."

"They're not all bad." The Admiral held up a restraining hand. "Sure some of 'em are little more than the council's lapdogs but..." The old Human interrupted himself and keyed the comm unit, built into his desk. "Which reminds me...Harleen? Would you come in here, please?"

"Sir?" The maiden slowly ran her hand back and forth her thighs as she glanced over to her uncle's aide walking over. She got more and more fidgety the longer she was in here. Cyra just hoped that this didn't take much longer or, heaven forbid, her father's old friend had another mission for her already. At this time she just wanted to go back to her parent's flat have a nice hot bath and then...Some very appealing images formed in her mind. About a nice soft bed with a certain Human male in it. Damn it, she just wanted to go home. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

"Did you find out anything about that spectre already?" Joker's voice pulled the maiden back to the here and now.

The female staff officer grimaced. "Not a whole lot." She had to admit. "She's changed her name when she was made a spectre that I know...And she hasn't been a spectre for long..." Harleen wrinkled her forehead as she tried to get come up with something useful. "...Just a little bit over a year in fact. Maybe that's why she was a little overzealous? Thought she had something to prove?"

"Could be..." The old Admiral drawled. He didn't seem to be convinced. "Anything else?"

"I'm afraid not." The Lieutenant sighed contritely.

"All right." Joker simply said. He hadn't really expected his aide to find out much more than that. Certainly not in this time frame. "Thank you, Harleen. That'll be all for now. But keep your eyes open."

Cyra silently watched the Human female turn around and walk away after a curt 'yes Sir'. "Changed her name, huh?" She remarked sourly as the door slid shut.

"Some spectres do that." Joker shrugged. "Usually just to keep their friends and/or families out of the line of fire."

"Bah." Was all the maiden said to that.

"That spectre _really _wound you up, didn't she?" The Human remarked wryly.

Cyra glared at her father's old friend for a split second before she simmered down. "I know, I know." She noisily expelled her breath. "It's silly but...Look the bitch just pissed me off with her...her..." The maiden struggled with her words for a moment. "Well, she apparently fancies herself quite a bit, to put it mildly."

"King-sized egos are not _that_ unusual amongst the spectres." Joker smirked, looking knowingly. "Happens sometimes as a by-product when the council confers a knighthood on somebody." Joker began to snicker. "I mean just ask your old man..."

Cyra gave her uncle an indignant look, apparently only boosting his amusement. "Now, what is that s'posed to mean?" She demanded.

"Nothing." The Admiral grinned impertinently. "Come on, kid. Cheer up. Right now we've been relegated to the side line but I'd wager we'll get another crack at this at some point down the line."

"How do you figure?" The maiden eyed her uncle suspiciously.

"Gut feeling." Joker shrugged. "Let's just say I wouldn't put my money on the spectres succeeding where we failed. Not because of a lack of ability, you understand. They simply don't really know what they're dealing with and I'm pretty sure they won't get anywhere with their usual modus operandi."

"Hmm."

"But be that as it may." The old Human smiled. "You've been sitting around here, being all antsy for long enough. Thinking about all the filthy things you're going to do with your boyfriend, I shouldn't wonder."

"Wha..." All of a sudden the maiden's face felt awfully hot as she blushed furiously, wondering if her Human uncle had developed telepathic abilities as of late.

"Oh don't look so surprised, Lieutenant." Joker laughed. "Contrary to popular belief there was a time when I was young. Granted, it's been a while but still..."

Cyra realized she probably had quite the dumbfounded look on her face as she was trying to fabricate a witty answer. Eventually she gave up and just rose out of her chair. She was somewhat tired. If not physically then certainly mentally and coming up with a coherent sentence was proving to be more difficult than she cared to admit.

"Anything else?" The maiden wanted to know.

"No, no." Joker waved his hand around in a dismissive gesture, still chuckling a bit. "You're dismissed, Lieutenant." He paused, his eyes glinting humorously. "Have fun with...What's his name again?"

"Alex."

"That's it. Anyway enjoy yourself."

Cyra dispensed with an answer and merely gave the Admiral a casual salute. As much as she normally liked her Human uncle, at times like these she thought of him as a bit of a pain in the rear. She was almost through the door when something came to her mind.

"Err...Uncle?"

"Hm?"

"What about Lien?"

A slight frown appeared on the Admiral's face and he put down his data pad. His mind already fixed on other things the maiden's question had caught him flat footed. "What about her?" He wanted to know.

"Well, you're not planning to just send her on her merry way, do you?"

"Well no..." Joker hadn't actually given this too much thought until now. "Obviously intelligence will want to ask her a couple of questions..."

"What kind of questions?" Cyra demanded, her general dislike of intelligence officials surfacing. "These bloody jackasses wanna interrogate...?"

"Hey, take it easy." The old Human interrupted his niece before she could work herself into a tantrum. "It's not going to be an interrogation, all right? They're not going to waterboard her or anything, don't you worry."

"After all that she's been through...they better not!" The young Asari snarled. "Or else..."

"I'll see that they're at their best behaviour." Joker smirked but the smile faded quickly. He'd gotten a warning from his superior earlier, saying that he was going to get a visit from some kind of government team. At he council's request no doubt. These guys had better not try to poach on his territory. Certainly not when it came to the archaeology student. "Anyway we're going to accommodate her in a nearby hotel for the time being and then..." He stopped, noticing the look on the maiden's face. "What?"

"About a hotel..." Cyra said slowly. "She could just come with me and live at our place for the time being." The maiden saw her uncle's eye narrow and she hastily continued before he could object. "Look, Alex will want to know how she's doing. I mean, she _is_ his assistant. I figure she might as well stay with us for the time being instead of sitting around in a hotel room all by herself."

"Hmmm." Joker eyed his friend's oldest daughter somewhat suspiciously, wondering whether she was up to something or if she was simply being considerate. "Fine." He shrugged after a moment of thinking. "If she prefers to stay with you, that's fine with me." He threw his niece a stern look. "As long as she agrees to come in for an interview when intelligence asks her to. She can't leave the station for now, ye hear?"

"Of course."

"That goes for you too, by the way." The Admiral added. "You're to stay around as well, at least for a while. I want you and your people here and ready to go. Just in case. "

"Sure." Cyra shrugged indifferently. "I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway."

"Good."

* * *

"It's beautiful." Lien felt a bit like a simpleton from the provinces as she looked around the presidium in wide wonder.

"First time up here, huh?" Cyra inquired.

"First time on the citadel." The young Human smirked.

"I see." The tall Asari said. The gravel scrunched under their feet as the two women walked towards the Shepard family flat, taking the scenic route along the lake.

"Are you sure you don't mind me staying at your place?" The archaeology student wanted to know yet again. "I mean...You and doctor Gordon..."

"Lien, seriously." Cyra couldn't help but chuckle. "How many times to I have to tell you that it's fine? Relax okay? It was my idea in the first place wasn't it?"

"Yes but..." The young Human struggled with her words for a moment. "I wouldn't want you to think you needed to look after me just because...you know...because of what happened." She absently brushed a lock of her long dark hair out of her face. "And I certainly don't wanna feel like a fifth wheel."

"There's really no need to worry. We've got plenty of room. " The Asari maiden had an almost feral look on her face. "We'll get our privacy, Alex and I."

"Well, that's a relief." The archaeology student said dryly. There was a few moments of silence as the Human female let her gaze wander over the clean waters of the lake in abstraction. "Thanks a lot."

"Hm?" Being a little preoccupied, possibly because she was thinking about what she wanted to do with her boyfriend first, Cyra's mind didn't fully register what Lien' had said. "What was that?"

"You know, for letting me stay with you guys." The Human explained. "I'd really hate to have to hang around in a hotel room all by myself, so yeah...Thanks. I mean it."

"Don't mention it." Cyra gave the student a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Speaking of which." She added as she changed direction and walked across a strip of grass, Lien hastily following her. "Almost there."

The maiden smiled to herself as she started walking up the stairs to the family apartment, trying to picture the look on Alex's face when she suddenly burst through the door. She hadn't had the opportunity to speak to him for quite a while now and thus he had no idea that she was coming. Would certainly be quite the surprise...Cyra suddenly stopped, cocked her head to the side and listened attentively.

"Something wrong?" Lien asked from behind her.

The young Asari took another two or three steps upwards then stopped again. "You hear that?"

She turned to the smaller female with a frown on her face. Lien blankly stared at the stair treads in front of her feet as she listened. She hadn't noticed – or possibly just hadn't paid attention - but now she could hear intermittent, muffled shouting coming from above.

"Is it your flat that this it coming from?" The student inquired in a soft voice.

"Certainly sounds like it." Was all that Cyra said as she resumed walking up the stairs at an increased pace. The yelling stopped for a moment. She fiddled around with her uniform, eventually producing an electronic key from one of her pockets. By then the two females were close enough that one could actually understand some of what was being said when the shouting started anew.

"_Look, I keep telling you people! He's a cylon!" _Cyra stopped dead in her tracks once more. She didn't recognize the female voice coming through the walls. A cylon? What? What in the bloody hell was going on in there?

"_What are you on about?" _That was clearly Alex's voice. And he sounded somewhat agitated. _"I mean, seriously, could you find another scapegoat for a change, please?"_

Her bewilderment increasing by the second, Cyra continued to listen as a commotion broke out, multiple people talking across one another. The maiden exchanged a glance with Lien but the Human naturally was just as clueless as to what was going on as she was.

"_I say we put him in the brig." _Said the unfamiliar female voice after the noise level had gone down a bit.

"_What?" _Cyra heard her boyfriend demand. _"Are you insane? I've done nothing to help the whole time!"_

"_So you keep claiming, but..." _There was another loud and chaotic exchange of opinions, the women outside barely able to make out a single word. Cyra did think she heard something like: 'I've got a better idea, let's airlock him' in the midst of all the pandemonium.

"What in the actual fuck." The maiden muttered under her breath. She covered the remaining distance to the apartment door with a few large strides and slid the digital key into the appropriate slot in a hurry. Lien saw the tall Asari run inside and hastily tried to catch up only to crash right into her when Cyra suddenly stopped.

Cyra apparently didn't even notice, standing there as if glued to the spot as the student lost her balance and involuntarily sat down on the ground. Absently rubbing her aching behind, Lien stood up and glanced past the taller female, wondering what the ruckus was all about. The scene before her looked like something out of either a sitcom or some sort of docudrama. Gathered around a large table was a group of six or seven people engaged in a passionate debate. One of them was her boss. There was Ashley and her girlfriend. Two more Asari she didn't recognize, probably the other Shepards, and a Human couple completed the group. The man looked familiar but Lien wasn't sure where she'd seen him before. Try as she might, however, the archaeology student wasn't able to deduce what the controversy was all about. Seemingly at random the members of the small group accused one another to be traitors, sympathizers or Cylons. What ever the hell that was supposed to be.

"What is going on?" Cyra eventually demanded, obviously just as baffled as to what all this was about as the Human behind her.

No reaction. The arguing continued unabatedly. None of the squabblers even seemed to notice that they were being watched.

"What the hell is going on here!?" The maiden shouted this time. At last, the arguing stopped. Being so rudely interrupted neither the Asaris nor the Humans around the table showed a reaction other than stunned perplexity for a few moments.

"Cyra?" Alex was the first to find his voice again. "Holy shit." The altercation forgotten he walked over with a slightly dazed look on his face. "How...what..." He started several times before his mind could settle on a question. "When did you get back?"

"Just an hour or two ago." Cyra mumbled absently, her brain still trying to figure out what all the fuss had been about. Until her boyfriend had come close enough to hug her. As she felt Alex' arms sneaking around her waist the maiden quickly decided that she actually didn't give a shit and enjoy the moment. Neither Cyra nor Alex had intended to kiss, having quite the audience and all. Regardless, it just happened anyway...and the kiss got longer and longer and longer...

"All right, all right, enough with the smooching." Hannah's voice groused at them. The request was quickly followed by a pillow a piece, hitting them in the head. The youngest of the Shepard sisters wasn't known to have a particularly romantic predisposition. A very brief surge of frustration later Cyra – and with some delay also Alex – began to chuckle. It was good to be home.

"And hello to you too." She said as she disentangled herself from her boyfriend, picked up one of the pillows and threw it back at her sister. "Little scamp."

"Hah, scamp she calls me!" Hannah effortlessly dodged out of the way of the thrown missile. "Hey, Cyramanga." The younger Asari's gaze landed on Lien who was still standing behind the tall maiden, feeling a little out of place. "And who is that? You know, it's rude to let a guest stand around without introduction."

"Oh, right" Cyra turned around, put a hand the Human's shoulder and gently pulled the student to her side. "This is..."

"Lien?" Ashley exclaimed, immediately running up to her former fellow in misery giving her a fierce hug. "Jeez, is it good to see you." Lien returned the hug, somewhat awkwardly at first but quickly getting more comfortable. "How are you?" The maiden wanted to know as she pulled back a bit, holding the archaeology student at arms length, looking her over. "You okay?"

"I...Yes, I'm okay." As casually as she could Lien wiped her moist eyes and took a breath. The last thing she wanted was to burst out crying in front of everybody. That would be way too embarrasing now that she was out of danger at last.

"Good to hear." Ashley briefly hugged the Human girl again, then proceeded to introduce her around.

The focus of almost everybody in the room moving away from her, Cyra furtively glanced around, half thinking to use the distraction to pull Alex in her room. She actually came close to suggest precisely that to her boyfriend but the slight scowl on his face made her hesitate.

"Something wrong?" She wondered aloud.

"Hm? What?" He looked a little blank for a second. "No, not really..." He drawled as his brain properly registered the maiden's words. "It's just...Couldn't you have called or something?"

"Well, sure I could have, but I wanted to surprise you." Cyra gave her boyfriend an amused look. "Got to admit though, that I'm the one surprised. I had no idea you were having a party here."

"Rhea's idea." Alex smiled absently. His girlfriend's unannounced appearance hadn't exactly been what he'd meant. On second thought however he decided no to press the matter. She was here now and, even more importantly, she was healthy. Thank god. "If we knew you were coming we would have saved you a place, of course." He said with a sweeping gesture towards the table.

"What the heck have you people been doing, anyway?" The maiden wanted to know, her eyes darting back and forth between the setup on the table and her boyfriend. "I heard screaming of treason, Cylons, putting you in the brig...what was that all about?"

"It's a board game, Mike brought with him." Alex grinned broadly. "It's about deception, subterfuge...all the good stuff."

"Sounds fun." Cyra eyes the game board somewhat suspiciously. It wasn't quite the sort of fun she'd intended to have with her boyfriend at this time but with the flat being as busy as it was she'd have to wait for the night to get any kind of intimacy going. The maiden figured she might as well join the game at the table until then.

"Hey LT." Mike ambled over. "How's it going?"

"Corporal Leh." Cyra's face lit up a bit as she recognized her formed squad member. For some reason she hadn't noticed him hanging around so far. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, the doc and I..." The marine grinned slyly and put his arm around Alex's shoulders. "...We're practically BFFs these days."

"Almost BFFs." The scientist felt compelled to point out, stabbing an index finger towards the other man's chest. "Almost."

"Aww, you wound me doc." Mike lamented, letting go of the archaeologist. By the looks, and smell, of it alcohol had certainly not been tabooed at this party. "Speaking of wound..." The Corporal got serious. "How's the guys?"

"Everybody's still in one piece, if that's what you're asking." Cyra said soberly as she gave the Human marine closer look. "And how are you doing?"

"I'm fine." Mike made a dismissive gesture. "Gotta go to the clinic once in a week to make sure that nothing is going wrong with all the cloned shit they stuffed in me. Other than that everything is peachy. Well everything but my current job, that is." He made a face. "You know, LT, I've always thought to stand around in full gear, guarding a bloody hole in the ground was about as tedious as things could get. Boy, oh boy was I wrong. You fumble about in an alliance personnel office eight hours a day..._then_ you'll know what _real_ boredom is."

"I'll try to remember that when I'm looking for a new job." Cyra snickered.

"Yeah well, you certainly can't claim that I didn't warn you." The Corporal said. "The guys are billeted in the local barracks, I assume?"

"Aye, or they will be in a few days." The maiden nodded. "They got a few days leave and naturally everybody buggered off in all directions."

"Great. Just wanna go over there and say hi, you see." Mike turned away, looking around for moment before waving a young Human woman with long, dark hair over. "Speaking of which again...This is Angela. Angie this my old...errr...former platoon leader, Lieutenant Shepard."

"Pleasure to meet you, miss Shepard." The young Human held out her hand. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Pleasure is all mine, Angela." The maiden wasn't quite certain but she thought to detect a bit of strain in the Human's smile as she took her hand and asked to be called Cyra. Possibly the pretty girl inwardly blamed her for getting her boyfriend shot up. Maybe she didn't feel comfortable around a Shepard. Or maybe she was just imagining things and everything was fine. Wouldn't be the first time her imagination had played tricks on her, Cyra thought. "I've heard quite a bit about you as well, as a matter of fact."

"Oh really?" Angela threw a quick glance at the Corporal, her expression unreadable. "Like what exactly?"

"How about we have a seat to talk it over?" The maiden suggested as made a vague gesture towards the table. "And then you can explain this board game to me. I'm actually really curious as to what sort of game makes you people accuse one another of being a traitor. Or demanding execution by airlock for that matter."

* * *

"I just hope Hannah doesn't mind, Lien sleeping in the room with her." Sitting on the large bed, Alex blinked rapidly as he tried to get his eyes to focus properly. The boozy board game party had lasted until way past midnight and the scientist was awfully tired. He groaned softly. The red wine made him even more drowsy. He let himself fall back on the bed and tried to relax.

"I wouldn't worry about the little scoundrel." Came Cyra's voice from the room's adjacent bathroom. "Hannah is gona be just fine. I for one just hope that she behaves herself."

Alex' head came up. "'Behaves herself'? What do you mean 'behaves herself'?"

He heard his girlfriend laugh merrily. "I don't mean what you think I mean." The maiden giggled. "Don't think Hannah is interested in anything even remotely related to romance at this point. All I was saying is that she'd better let the poor girl sleep instead of trying to chat her up all the time."

"Oh." The archaeologist felt a little silly though not for long. When Cyra came out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a silken, black bathrobe, his mind went blank for a moment.

"Now I on the other hand..." The maiden casually untied the robe's waistband and let it fall to the floor as she knelt down on the bed and moved towards her boyfriend like a playful cat. "...I have absolutely no intention to behave."


	32. Chapter 32

"Mmmmh." Cyra purred contentedly as she snuggled up to her boyfriend, her breathing still quite heavy. A result of passionate love making. "I've been away for way too long."

"Indeed. " Alex lazily put a sweaty arm around the maiden. He was thinking to go to the bathroom to clean himself up a bit but decided against it. Not just yet. Not while his girlfriend was rubbing her naked body against him. "You don't have to leave again tomorrow, I hope?"

"Nope." The young Asari sighed happily. "With any luck I'll stay here for a while."

"Ah, good news." Alex drawled as he planted a kiss on his girlfriend's forehead. He wanted to say something else but a huge yawn kept him from doing so.

"Am I boring you by any chance?" Cyra gently ran her fingers along his jaw and turned his head towards her, smirking impishly.

"Not at all." The scientist mumbled as he reached down and gave one of her firm buttocks a really nice squeeze. "That it's two in the morning might have something to do with me yawning though." He commented wryly. "I mean, I'm not twenty anymore, after all." He rested his eyes for a bit.

"My apologies, old man." The maiden giggled. "I'll try not to tire you out..." She suddenly noticed that his breathing was conspicuously regular. "Alex?" No answer. "Oh come on." Cyra muttered, just a tiny bit indignant about her boyfriend just dozing off. Ah well, time to get some rest herself. A faint smile on her lips, the maiden got herself in a comfortable position. There would be time for more collective physical training tomorrow.

There was a weird sound, coming from one of the other rooms just before Cyra dropped off. It sounded like a muffled scream. With a frown the maiden ran a finger across the surface of her nightstand, switching the lights back on. She sat up and continued to listen. Whatever had been going on seemed to have stopped. The maiden waited a few more minutes before she shrugged and got herself comfortable once again. For a minute she wondered what those noises had been about as she listened to Alex's breathing but before she knew it she dropped off herself.

* * *

"I'm fine, I'm fine." It didn't take Ashley very long to get her breathing under control as she leaned against Rose. "I can handle it." The nightmares had decreased in severity lately of which the maiden was grateful. By this point she was more annoyed when they came than anything else. "You can let go of me now, Rosie. Thanks." She added with a smirk.

"Right." Rose took her arms off her girlfriend's waist and tried to get back to sleep. She knew from experience that it was best to just leave Ashley alone now. It she tried to be too protective the maiden would just get mad. The redhead didn't like it but there really wasn't much she could do about it. Things had definitely gotten better ever since Ashley'd had a good cry on Alex' shoulder however. If only the maiden would get better a little faster, Rose mused. She missed the intimacy the two of them had so often enjoyed before that godawful day back at the dig site. The redhead had done a bit of research in the extranet but unfortunately the best advice for a situation like hers seemed to be patient and be there if her girlfriend needed her. The trouble was that patience wasn't exactly one of Rose's virtues.

_'Goddammit!'_

* * *

_'Goddammit!' _

The ATV was bouncing up and down wildly. So much so that Cyra found it awfully hard to point her rifle even in the vague direction of any of the bad guys that seemed to pop up out of nowhere all around them.

"Jesus, man!" Behind her the marine, manning the automatic grenade launcher, had the exact same problem. "I can't fucking hit anything! Keep it steady, will you?!"

"I fucking can't!" The driver shouted back. "This bloody thing has wheels and not a hover package for crying out loud!"

Tracers of all colours whizzed past the maiden, bounced off the vehicle's light armour, hit the windscreen. Her helmet muffled the noise quite a bit but what came through was still enough to make Cyra think that all the legions of hell were coming down at the small group of marines, roaring at them loudly. Whenever she could she would fire a burst from her rifle, not because she thought she'd hit anything of course. Hitting anything other than rocks and dirt was as good as impossible. It did make the bad guys a bit more cautious though.

"We're almost clear!" The Asari Lieutenant incredulously rose her head and looked around. Were they really going to get out of this jam in one piece? It looked like it. They'd almost reached the forest and there weren't anymore bad guys in their way. _'Jesus fucking Christ, if we live through this, I'm going to have a chat with that bloody intelligence officer.' _

"Rocket! Ten o'clock, two hundred!" Cyra's head snapped to the left, spotting the enemy with the launcher just as he fired. She tried to use her biotics to put up a protective bubble around the vehicle and its crew but the missile covered the distance too quickly. It hit and... the maiden found herself sitting upright in a warm and comfortable bed.

"Gee...fuuuck." She whispered as she fell back onto the mattress and wiped the sweat off her forehead. If only those bloody nightmares didn't feel so real. Cyra breathed deeply. She had walked away from this one. The man at the grenade launcher hadn't. "Damn it."

"Bad dream?"

"Yeah, something like that." Cyra replied after regaining her voice. For a moment there she'd completely forgotten that there was someone in the bed with her. She shifted closer to Alex, sighing gratefully when he put and arm around her.

"Wanna talk about it?" The Human asked as she snuggled up to him.

Cyra mulled over that for a moment. "Not particularly, no."

"Okay."

Did the archaeologist sound a little disappointed or did she just imagine it? Cyra wondered. In any case she had zero desire to think of this episode, let alone tell her boyfriend – or anyone else for that matter - about it. "I just..." The maiden hesitated and had a good yawn. It was already bright outside, the presidium's artificial day beginning. "It's an ugly story and I don't wanna ruin the mood. Besides..." She added as her brain started working properly. "...I'm not supposed to talk about it anyway."

"Bummer." Alex put an arm around the young Asari's waist. She giggled softly as he gently ran his fingertips around her bellybutton, tickling her in the process. "You got bad dreams often?"

"Not really." Cyra was being cagey about it. "Not anymore anyway. It used to be quite a bit worse when the memories were fresh, that's for sure."

"I see." The scientist sighed. "So there is a chance that Ashley will be able to enjoy a good night's sleep someday down the road then..."

"Ash is having nightmares?" The maiden turned her head to glance at her boyfriend curiously. "About the time she was abducted?"

"Yeah." Alex confirmed. "I meanm, after all she was almost raped..."

"She what?!" Before she knew it Cyra sat bolt-upright in the bed again.

"You...you didn't know...?" The scientist's eyes widened a bit.

"No!" The maiden barked. "No, I bloody well didn't! 'Cause _no one_ bloody bothered to tell me!" Cyra jumped out of the bed, her face thunderous as she gathered up her clothes from the floor. "So what the hell happened?"

"Look, darling. I think it's better if Ashley tells..." Alex tried to calm the waves but his girlfriend was having none of it.

"Come on, mister." The maiden stomped around the bed. She was mostly naked and in any other situation this sight would have aroused the scientist immensely. Right now, however any romantic move seemed highly inadvisable. "Spit it out!"

"Fine." Alex made a face as he noisily exhaled. As concisely as Cyra would let him get away with he told her about that particular scene aboard the mercenary craft. The more he said the more saturnine the maiden's face got.

"I should have cut that shithead's dick off when I had the chance." The maiden growled after the archaeologist had ended. "You could have...you _should_ have fuckin' told me."

"What? When?" Alex exclaimed incredulously. "You mean in the middle of that godawful base on Pragia? I kinda had other things on my mind back there, alright? Give me a break."

Cyra inhaled sharply and wanted to hiss at her lover but then turned away, muttering something obscene. Inwardly she had to admit she couldn't expect the scientist to have the presence of mind to tell her such a thing in the middle of a firefight. Didn't stop her from being awfully mad though. "And why didn't you bother to tell me about that later?" She wanted to know after walking back and forth the room for a bit.

"Look, I figured the story wasn't mine to tell, okay?" The Human defended himself. "And after a while...well, I guess at some point I just assumed you'd been told. If it wasn't for my big mouth..."

Cyra couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah." She walked up her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth as the storm blew over. "You and your mouth." They kissed again. "You know if you're not inadvertently break a secret, you truly can do magical things with it."

"Oh you noticed that, did ya?" Alex grinned, gently running his fingertips along her spine. "I can also do some pretty magical stuff with my hands, you know."

"I noticed that as well." Cyra giggled as she stepped away. "But you can show me that later. Let's get a shower and get going before Hannah comes pounding at our door."

Alex blinked in puzzlement. "What makes you think she'll do that?"

"Just a gut feeling." The maiden grinned. "Oh don't look so disappointed, will you?" She snickered merrily. "You're going to get some 'action' today, don't you worry. But right now, my back needs scrubbing."

* * *

"Well, well, well." Focused on fastening her blouse, Cyra didn't immediately react as she entered the living room with Alex in tow. "If it isn't our little love birdies."

"Good morning to you too." The oldest of the Shepard sisters said wryly, tilting her head to the side as she threw her youngest sibling an ironic glance.

"Yeah, yeah. Good morning." Hannah waved her left hand dismissively, casually nibbling at a piece of pizza leftover from the evening before. "You guys got any sleep? 'Cause the rest of us sure as hell didn't. Not before three in the morning anyway" She grinned as she conspiratorially leaned over to Lien. "You know, with all those delightful noises coming out of your room." Hannah threw the Human a wink.

"By 'the rest of us' you mean all the rest _but _you, right?" Cyra snorted, faintly shaking her head as she sat down opposite of her youngest sister. "Don't even pretend you went to bed before three without mum or dad breathing down your neck."

"Ancient history, Cyramune, ancient history." Hannah grinned. "If you'd stayed in the loop you'd know that I'm actually a good girl these days."

"Yeah sure." The older maiden snickered as her eyes scanned the table. There was quite an assortment of aliments here. As a matter of fact Cyra thought the sheer amount of food to be a little excessive. "Are you expecting visitors or something? The entire Asari navy perhaps?"

"You got Rhea to thank for the buffet." Having finished her slice of reheated pizza, Hannah took a handkerchief out of one of her pockets and wiped her hands clean.

"Really?" Cyra looked around the room then leaned to the side to get a glance into the kitchen. "Where is our turquoise beauty?"

"She's gone to..." Hannah frowned. "I don't actually know where exactly." She had to admit after thinking about it for a moment.

"I believe she said she was going to get some fresh vegetables from a...'special place'... or something." Lien chimed in helpfully.

"Ah yes." There was the barest hint of mockery in the youngest Shepard's chuckle. "One of Rhea's special places. And while she's out there she'll also buy up half the supply of cosmetics from one of her other special places, I shouldn't wonder."

"Possibly." Cyra laughed, both of the Humans at the table getting the distinct impression that they were missing a joke. Unfortunately neither of the Asaris cared to elaborate. "Anyway." She cleared her throat. "Since you're such a good girl these days, would you put two of these slices in the toaster for me, please?"

Hannah pretended to brood over it before she reached for the stack of toast. "Yeah I suppose I can do that since you said please so nicely." She said mischievously. "I mean, I'd prefer if you'd said 'sir' as well but..."

"Hah! Before I do that you'll have to outrank me first, you little imp."

"That could happen much faster than you think, Cyrandia." The younger maiden grinned cheekily. "Just you wait. You're going to salute before the little imp before too long."

Cyra cocked her head to the side and eyed her sibling curiously. "Perhaps." She drawled. "But until that day you'll have to make due with a simple 'please'. So you can put those slices into the toaster now...pretty please?"

"Oh fine." Hannah pouted, the toaster clicking softly as she did what she was asked.

Cyra leaned forward and put an elbow on the table, hiding a yawn behind her hands. _'Gee what the heck?'_ She thought to herself. _'You've slept in a nice, soft bed for a night and ye're already going soft? Damn girl!' _

"Must have been quite the romp, huh?" The younger maiden grinned impudently.

"Oh, shut up." Cyra growled, only succeeding in increasing her sister's amusement even more. "So..." She asked Hannah, trying to change the subject after she'd endured her sibling mucking about some more. "...You finally enlisted then?"

"Yep, went over to the recruiting office a couple of days ago." Hannah smiled. "They were making quite the fuss when they saw my name."

"I'm sure they did." Cyra said wryly, remembering the shocked look on the recruiter's faces when she'd enlisted. "What did dad say anyway?"

"Threatened to send me to a nunnery at first." Hannah laughed. "But eventually he agreed to let me go. Might have had something to do with _me_ threatening to make every window in the city shatter whenever I got a hold of the yacht but hey...Anyway, I...why are you laughing?" The youngest Shepard wondered.

"Oh nothing." Cyra snorted as, to everybody else's surprise, her giggling turned into a full blown laughing fit. "I just..." It took the older Asari quite a few tries until she managed to speak properly. "I'm just trying to imagine you in a nun's garb."

"Hah!" Hannah exclaimed. "Not gona happen sis. Not gona happen. You send me to a nunnery and I'll show you a cloister that's about to be burned to the ground!"

"I'll just bet." Cyra snickered, having still not fully recovered from her earlier paroxysm. Another brief bout of laughter later she got herself back under control, taking long, deep breaths. "Anyway." She then said, holding out her plate. "Would you now pass me the toast, please?"

* * *

It was already mid morning when Cyra and Alex stepped out on the presidium grounds for a postprandial stroll. The maiden felt a little bit weird as she looked around the pristine environment. Only a few days ago she'd slept in her combat suit on a concrete floor and now here she was in what seemed like a whole different universe.

"What is it?" Alex wanted to know when noticed her looking around.

"Hm? Oh nothing...I..." Cyra blinked, distracted by the beautiful park. "I guess I'm just glad to be here." She smiled as she took her boyfriend's hand and pulled him off the promenade and towards the water. "The ambience here is much nicer than the last place I've been to, I can tell you that."

For a moment the scientist looked at her strangely. "I assume you can't say anything as regards to where you were...and what happened there?"

"Yeah...I mean no, I can't. Company policy, I guess you could say." The maiden's smile faded a little. "Besides, I'm not quite sure you actually want to know."

"I wouldn't mind knowing what my girlfriend does in her day." The scientist pointed out with a smirk. "Not to be too nosey but..."

"Well I can tell you my work doesn't involve me prancing about a stage throwing all my clothes away."

"Huh?" Alex was clearly taken off guard by that statement. "Where did that come from?"

"Oh, you know..." Cyra grinned as she took off her shoes and socks and sat down by the water. "If nothing else at least there's no need for you to get jealous."

"I'm not jealous." The archaeologist didn't appear to see the funny side in his girlfriend's quip. "That's not the point. It's...look it's not very pleasant to know that the woman you love is somewhere...god knows where and...maybe she's just getting shot at...or worse..."

Cyra blankly stared at her feet as she dipped them into the water. "I'm afraid I don't know what to say to that."

"Well you could tell me that you _didn't_ get shot at." Alex pointed out as he sat down next to the maiden. "Would put my mind at ease a least a little bit." She sighed and threw a pebble into the water. "So you _did _get shot at again, huh?"

Cyra expelled her breath in annoyance. "Do we _really_ have to talk about this right now?" She barked testily.

"Well no, we don't." The scientist involuntarily spoke a bit louder himself. "I'd be happy to talk about it later."

"Come on, you know I can't." Cyra threw up her hands in a gesture of exasperation. "It sucks okay? And there's nothing I can do about want to hear me say it again? It sucks! Does that help?"

"A little bit." Alex managed to smile a little. He wasn't any happier about being left in the dark but he didn't want to make a fuss because of it either. At least not right now. He put his arm around the maiden when she leaned against him. After a while of sitting there in silence he decided he might as well take off his shoes and get a foot bath himself. "You know, I haven't seen a whole lot of people around here letting their feet dangle into the water. The lake isn't off limits or anything, is it?"

"No idea to be honest." Cyra said sleepily. "Maybe it's just that most people walking about the presidium are stuffy diplomats or businessmen?" She speculated. "Whatever...If there is something wrong with what we're doing, I'm sure we'll hear all about it from a groundskeeper before too long."

"Yeah probably." The scientist smiled. He couldn't resist the temptation to pull the maiden's t-shirt up a bit so that he could run his hand over her naked belly.

"Are you trying to undress me by any chance?" Cyra wanted to know in jest. "I'm pretty sure the authorities would take offence to that."

"Possibly." Alex only increased his efforts, tickling his girlfriend quite a bit as he caressed her midriff. "But who knows...Maybe they'd just enjoy the show."

"Stop it anyway, will ya?" The young Asari blurted out between fits of giggles. "I can barely breathe." The scientist, of course, did anything _but_ cease in his endeavours. "Gaahh, stop it, you...!" Cyra tried to get rid of the offending hands. The resulting struggle quickly devolved into the couple rolling around on the grass, their limbs intertwined. And of course, inevitably, disaster happened as the lovers, not in control as to where they were going, fell into the citadel lake with a loud splash. For a few moments the two of them vanished beneath the water surface before the reappeared spluttering and laughing as they crawled back onto dry land.

"Well, now the fat's in the fire." Alex snickered as they sat back down, the scientist taking off his jacket to drape it around the maiden's shoulders.

"Why thank you, good sir." Cyra shook her head in amusement. "You know it's nice that you try to be the gentleman and all...but it's not that cold."

"That's not really the point." Alex replied with a significant nod towards the maiden's chest.

"Oh." Cyra looked down. She wasn't wearing a bra and the wet t-shit clung to her form, revealing a lot more than was commonly considered acceptable. Nevertheless she was tempted to just leave it be as she noticed the appreciative glance the archaeologist gave her. In any case she didn't feel like going home already. She lay down on the grass, covering herself up just enough that random passer-bys wouldn't have anything to worry about while still giving her boyfriend something to look at.

"What have you been doing lately anyway?" She asked after they'd been lounging about in silence for a while, the warm rays of the artificial sun slowly drying their wet clothes.

Alex yawned heartily before he answered. The lack of sleep made itself felt. "This and that." He drawled as he gathered up his thoughts. "Mainly hanging around with your sisters. Did some work for the archaeology department. We...had a couple of board game parties and such with Mike and Angela ...err..." He hesitated as he was groping for something else to list.

"Angela?" Cyra frowned for a moment. "Oh, Corporal Leh's girlfriend, right?"

"Err...yeah." Hearing his friend referred to in such an impersonal manner took some getting used to.

"Well I'm just used to calling the Corporal Corporal." The maiden said after Alex had pointed that out. "I'm afraid I can't get too chummy with the lower ranks. So as long as he's still a marine..."

"Oh you soldiers and your rigid hierarchies..." The scientist sighed.

"Well you wouldn't greet your boss with a 'yo bro' either, would ya?" Cyra snickered and gave her boyfriend a playful nudge.

"S'pose not." Alex closed his eyes and tried to relax.

"You're not gonna fall asleep on me again, are you?" The scientist flinched ever so slightly as the young Asari whispered into his ear. He opened one eye and risked a cautious glance. His girlfriend was all smiles so she couldn't be too mad about him dozing off after they'd had sex the night before.

"I'm just resting my eyes." He said as he closed his eye again. "No hasty conclusions if you please."

"Hasty conclusion, huh?" The maiden mumbled as she let her eyes rest on the Human's face. She was enjoying herself immensely. "I mean, it's only that you've had this huge yawn barely a minute ago, you know..."

"Okay, so I am a little tired." Alex drawled. "Didn't get much sleep last night. You kept me awake as you might recall."

"Oh so now it's my fault?" Cyra said in feigned outrage.

"Hey, look, I'm not complaining." The scientist grinned as he put an arm around her waist and gently caressed her back. "But I _do _think this should count as attenuating circumstances in my favour."

"Aw, fine. I suppose I can accept that. Just this once." Cyra shifted over and snuggled up to her boyfriend much more closely. "But only if you promise to lose some sleep with me again tonight."

"Now that I definitely can do." Alex grinned and surreptitiously looked around before he gave the maiden's back a little more attention. "Don't you worry."

* * *

"Would you please stop treating me with kid gloves?" Ashley took her gaze off the computer screen and turned to her girlfriend with a frown. "I'm fine, Rosie, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Hey, I merely asked what you were doing, all right?" The redhead didn't understand what the problem was. "There's no law against asking, is there?"

"It was you tone."

"My tone? What? What's got my tone..?" Rose interrupted herself and massaged her temples. "Look, I only just woke up. Give me a break."

"I just don't want you guys to tiptoe around me as if I was a cripple or something, for crying out loud." The maiden barked. "I'm sure you mean well but it's getting annoying."

"Well, you _did_ have another nightmare tonight didn't you?"

"I can handle it, I tell you." Rose had to keep her temper in check as Ashley turned back to the computer and got busy again, obviously considering the debate over. She took a look over the maiden's shoulder.

"So, my _tone_ aside..." Rose began anew. She certainly didn't want to pick a quarrel with her girlfriend but she couldn't resist firing a little jibe in her direction. "What _are_ you doing?" The Human girl's eyes scanned the screen.

"Just searching the extranet for information...about something." The Asari replied monosyllabically.

"I can see that." The redhead barked testily, drawing a smirk from Ashley. "_What_ are you looking for?"

"See? That's better." The maiden brushed a kiss on Rose's cheek. "No need to treat me like a china doll."

"Okay fine, there you go." The Human rolled her eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, what's this about, huh?"

"I'm trying to find information about the merc troupe, I've briefly been a quest of." Ashley said dryly. "It's really amazing what kind of stuff you can find in the web if you're just looking for it hard enough."

Rose's eyebrows rose. "You think that's a good idea?" She asked. "I mean I don't want to go right back to being overly caring but..."

"I want to know whom I have to thank for this lovely time." Ashley growled, angrily glaring at the information displayed on the screen. "And I didn't know where else to start."

"I see..." The redhead said slowly. She didn't quite know what to make of this. "Think you'll find something out? Not to rain on your parade but there are probably all kinds of intelligence services working on that. I mean, you really think you can dig up something they can't?"

"No idea." The young Asari replied honestly. "Not that it matters anyway. I wanna do _something_. I'm done sitting around, feeling sorry for myself. Whoever is responsible for this bullshit is going to be sorry if I have anything to say about it!"

Ashley was more than a little surprised when her Human girlfriend suddenly hugged her fiercely. "Gawd. Ash!" Rose kissed the maiden on the side of her head crest. "Good to have you back, darling." Somewhat dumbfounded didn't react right away and by the time she could offer a response, the redhead had already ran off to get another chair. "So." Rose beamed as she sat down beside the Asari. "Let's get cracking then, shall we?"

* * *

"You guys comin'?" Alex looked down on himself, making minimal adjustments to his bow-tie as Rhea stuck her head through the door. Next to him Lien nervously stepped from one foot to the other. The archaeology student looked just about as much as a fish out of water in her fancy dress as he felt in his evening attire. "The limo is here. We should really get going."

"We're ready...well more or less." The scientist said as he looked around the room. The whole living community was assembled in the lounge, all wearing expensive evening wear Rhea had obtained for them. "Except of course..."

"Our big sis is taking the longest to get ready once again." Hannah cut in impishly. "She..."

"I don't wanna hear about it!" Alex bit his upper lip, suppressing a snicker as Cyra's voice came through the bathroom door. His girlfriend sounded awfully annoyed but in a funny way. "Whoever invented high heels should be put up against the wall!"

"You know, there I can actually agree with big C." Hannah said as soft chuckling chimed through the room, undoubtedly doing little to improve Cyra's mood. "These things are...I can't actually think of a strong enough cuss right now."

"A rarity, I'm sure." Rhea commented dryly.

"No, but seriously, why do we have to wear this getup, huh?" Hannah had taken off her own high heels and was walking around barefoot at the moment, eyeing her shoes with a disgusted look on her face.

"You don't go to attending a musical premiere at Dilinaga hall in jeans, t-shirt and trainers." Rhea said, wrinkling her nose as if she was scandalized by the mere thought.

"Why the heck did I even agree to come along...?" The younger Asari muttered.

"Come on, It'll be good for you." Rhea grinned. "One of these days you got to learn that there's more to life than engines...and aircraft...and spaceships...and lasers...and pirates..."

"Oh bugger off, will you?" Hannah growled. Judging by the look on her face she was seriously considering to throw her high heels at her older sibling. "I'm just fine where I am. Don't feel the need to go schmoozing with all kinds of stuffy people with sticks up their asses...or wherever..."

The door to the bathroom opened before Rhea could muster a reply and Cyra came finally out. Despite looking fabulous wearing a dress, certainly in Alex's eyes, the eldest of the Shepard sisters had quite the scowl on her face. The heels of her shoes clicked quite loudly on the expensive wooden floor as the maiden moved over to her boyfriend as gracefully as she could.

"Doesn't look too bad." Alex couldn't resist to pass a comment, nodding at Cyra's high heels.

"Pffft." Cyra noisily exhaled. "I _can_ walk in those bloody things just fine." She replied as she threw Rhea a venomous look. "But that doesn't mean I have to like to."

"Okay are we about good to go?" Rhea asked loudly, undaunted by her sisters' obvious disgust of their shoes. "We're rea" She began to shoo the diverse posse towards the door. "The Limo is waiting, let's go!"

"Well then, my lady." The scientist said, holding out a slightly bent arm. "I would consider it a great honour if you would accompany me to this event."

Being just a tiny bit surprised, Cyra hesitated for a split second before she tucked her arm into his with a soft giggle, shaking her head ever so slightly as they followed the rest of the merry band to the waiting limousine.

* * *

"Had a late night, sir?" Joker flinched, his aide's voice coming from much closer than expected. The woman could move way to quietly for his liking.

"Harleen, kindly stop sneaking up on me, would you?" The old war hero reluctantly opened his eyes to glance up at the female Lieutenant. "My heart has it hard enough these days without getting a regular jump scare."

"Sorry, sir." Harleen's eyes glittered humorously. "Sneaking is not my intention, I assure you. Me walking around silently is more down to the standard issue shoes than deliberation on my part."

"Is that so?" Joker eyed his aide somewhat suspiciously. "Well then maybe you should pick up some combat boots from the arsenal on occasion, hm?"

"I'd rather not, Admiral." The young woman smiled. At this point she knew the old man well enough to know when his mood was good enough for her to get away with being cocky. If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to just knock, sir."

"I suppose that works too." Joker stifled a yawn with the back of his right hand. "As long as the Lieutenant doesn't conveniently forget to actually do it."

"I'm sure the Lieutenant will to her utmost to remember knocking going forward." Harleen replied straight faced. "Of course it would help if the Admiral would take some time off every now and then so that he'd be tired less frequently."

"What are you? My mother?"

"Just your ordinary staff officer, worried about her boss."

"Yeah, sure, as if 'ordinary staff officers' ever worried about their bosses." The old war hero chuckled. "Usually we're objects of derision and scorn...At least when our backs are turned."

"That's not true." Harleen objected. She figured it was best to change the subject quickly, before things got awkward. "Anyway, if you don't mind me saying Admiral, you _do_ seem to tend to overwork yourself. You must get invited to all kinds of events here on the citadel. Why don't you accept some of these invitations?"

"And listen to endless self-aggrandising speeches? No thank you."

"But you said yourself that you enjoyed yourself at that musical premiere you went to...what? Two weeks ago?"

"Yes two weeks ago and yes I _did_ enjoy myself there. But that was mainly because the Shepards were there as well."

"So then..."

"Harleen! It's enough!" Joker said firmly. "It's nice that you care so much about my workload but..." He interrupted himself and gave his aide a suspicious look. "By the way, why did you come in here in the first place?"

"Oh? Right." The young woman shook her head faintly. "I just wanted to remind you that you're supposed to give a short speech to class of officer candidates in a couple of hours."

"I haven't forgotten about that." Joker rose a brow, looking at his aide suspiciously. "I'm not senile just yet."

"I wasn't implying anything of the sort, sir."

"Refreshing." The old man commented dryly. "But you didn't come in here _just_ to give me that reminder, did ye? Don't you think I didn't notice how you were trying to catch a glimpse of my screen a couple of times."

"Err...Well no I..." To her credit, Harleen did have the decency to blush a little. "It's been weeks since I've heard anything about the AI. I know I shouldn't ask but..."

"Your curiosity got the better of you, huh?"

"Yes sir. And since I don't have a lot to do at the moment, I figured I might just as see if I could learn something in here."

Joker shrugged and decided not to make an issue out of it. The information his aide got a peek certainly wasn't supposed to be publicly known. But since it wasn't even from an official intelligence source it wasn't exactly classified either. Besides he'd never been a fan of the widespread practice to inform his subordinates strictly on a need to know basis. Keeping his people in the loop as much as he could justify had gotten him into hot water with intelligence a couple of times but he'd never regretted it redardless. "Fine, since you're already here you might as well take a proper look. " With the touch of a finger he turned the holographic screen in his aide's direction.

"So the AI, the professor and his mercs have dropped off the face of the galaxy?" Harleen asked after a minute of reading.

"Completely and totally." The old Admiral nodded. "All that is known is that they're somewhere in the Terminus systems and even that's not one-hundred percent confirmed."

"So...you intend to do something about it, sir?"

"You mean after I've specifically told _not_ to do anything by several high ranking official of several very important agencies?" Joker smirked. Now it was Harleen's turn to suspiciously look at her boss. "I wait for the spectres to do their job." The old war hero growled. "But I'm not going to wait for much longer."


	33. Chapter 33

"_Admiral, Lieutenant Shepard is here as you requested." _Joker took his time to answer the call, coming out of his floating chair's built in speakers, staring out of his office's panoramic window for a little longer.

"Send her...No, _come_ in, both of you." He eventually keyed his comm unit. "There's something I need you to do."

The door opened almost immediately and the two female Lieutenants came in, the Human's face looking like one big question mark.

"Reporting as ordered, sir." Cyra said with a semi-serious salute.

"Have a seat, Lieutenant." Joker returned the salute with a smirk. "Uhh...not you Harleen. I need you to go down to the main utility room and cut the power to this office."

"Sir?" The female staff officer's jaw dropped. Cutting the power to anything was just about the last thing she had expected to have to do when she'd gotten out of bed in the morning. "I'm sorry, what, sir?"

"Come on, Lieutenant, you heard me." The old Admiral said with a worn-out smile. "I'd like a guarantee that the computers and other naughty things are really shut down for a time. You do understand, do you?"

"Uhh...Yes, sir." Harleen drawled. The look on the young woman's face made it abundantly clear that she really didn't and was possibly even questioning her bosses sanity. It didn't matter regardless. As a matter of fact, Joker even preferred if his aide didn't. All that mattered right now was she got the power shut off.

"Good. Off you go then." The Human Lieutenant hesitated for a split second as she exchanged a look with Cyra, trying to determine whether the Asari knew what was going on. "Oh and before I forget..." Joker added quickly. "...You'll also have to make certain that the emergency power unit doesn't foul it up."

"Aye, sir." Harleen absently shook her head when she walked out of the room. She had quite a few colleagues, claiming that the old war hero was 'as mad as a box of frogs'. Did she usually just shrug it off, at this very moment she wondered if they actually had a point.

"Uncle, what's this all about?" Cyra was genuinely curious as she fell onto one of the comfortable chairs in front of the desk.

Instead of answering the question, Joker deliberately slowly floated over to the coffee maker on his chair. "Coffee?" He asked in a marked casual tone, instantly setting off alarm bells in the maiden's head.

"No, thank you." She said as she leaned back in her chair, eyeing her uncle suspiciously. "I've only just had breakfast."

"Come on." The old Human threw her a wink.

"Okay...Fine." Cyra sighed. "But if you have me sit around on the citadel for much longer and fill me up with coffee and whatnot, I might get fat."

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that too much, kid." The Admiral said cryptically, refusing to go into details when the maiden would probe. "You're having a good time with your boyfriend I hope?" He wanted to know as he put a cup of hot, steaming coffee down in front of her."

"Well yes, as a matter of fact we do." Cyra tilted her head to the side. "But you didn't summon me here to talk about that, did you uncle?"

"And why not?" The Admiral replied with a soft chuckle. "After all I'm just a lonely, old fart who needs a bloody chair to move around properly. Maybe I just wanted to see my niece on this lovely day...?"

"You're neither as old, lonely _or _physically handicapped as you claim to be." The maiden pointed out wryly, adding a 'sir' in order to not appear too flippant. Uncle or not, her father's best friend or not, he was still her superior after all. "So why _am _I here?" She asked one more time, again without getting a result. She gave up trying to get information out of the old Human. By this point it was more than obvious that he wasn't going to come out with it before he was ready, no matter how much she probed. "So how did Hannah do on her aptitude check?" She wanted to know instead, drastically changing the subject.

"That's kinda confidential, young lady." Joker crossed his arms before his chest and raised an eyebrow as he looked her over.

"Well, I can still ask, can't I?" Cyra pointed out. "Can't blame a girl for being curious."

"Sure." Joker snickered. "And you asking of course has nothing to to with your little sister putting you up to this, huh?"

"And if that was the case? Again, can't blame a girl for being curious. I mean, you gotta get _something _out of having an Admiral as an uncle, right?"

"What makes you think I have knowledge of the test results in the first place, hm?" Joker asked. "I'm not directly involved in the selection process after all."

"Because I know you, uncle." Cyra smirked and took a nip of her coffee. "And because I know how the two of you are. You're thick as thieves you are." She paused for effect. "So let's just say I would be _really _surprised if you, sir, didn't pry into the results."

"And if that was the case, hm?" Joker grinned broadly. "Can't blame an old man for being curious either, can you?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Cyra said, faking indignation. "Throw that back in my face."

She wanted to add something but the old Human spoke first. "In any case." He said. "Hannah will get the results in a couple of days, same as everyone else. However..." He added as the maiden drew breath to protest. "I'd think it's safe to say, she'll wear blue much more often in the future."

"Navy blue, huh?" Cyra's eyes narrowed a bit. "Am I really gona have to salute that little rascal, after all?"

"Yeah well." Joker's grin got even wider. "You could of course also..." He interrupted himself as his chair's comm unit beeped. "Yes, Harleen, what is it?"

"_I have a little problem here, Admiral." _The female Human's voice came out of the speakers. _"The people down here say the power to your office can't be cut individually. They'd have to shut down the entire section of the building."_

"Can't be helped." Joker shrugged. "Do it."

"_Uhh, sir..."_ There was quite a commotion, audible in the background of the transmission as the Admiral's aide spoke again. _"The supervisor says he 'protests in the strongest possible terms'._

"Is that so?" The old Human switched off the loudspeakers and picked up a small communication device. "Get him on the horn then, would you Harleen?"

In the following couple of minutes, Cyra was reminded that, despite being a generally pleasant fellow, he _was_ a high ranking officer and was used to being obeyed. She had to bite her tongue several times in order to not grin too openly, the Admiral displaying the vocabulary of the old sailor he was. Sometimes, however, she also felt a little bad for the poor sod on the other end of the line who was getting a royal dressing down.

"Let me make this abundantly clear, _mister._" Joker barked into the communicator's microphone after describing in minute detail what his discussion partner's future was going to look like if he didn't do what he was told. "I don't just want you to flip a switch...or worse, press a button on your computer. You are to disconnect the power line completely, pull the cable out of the socket and keep it that way until you hear from me again. You got that? There is to be no power in this office. At all...That's none of your business! Just do it! That'll be all!"

"Well." Cyra couldn't resist to comment wryly as her uncle terminated the connection. "That fella won't forget this day anytime soon, I'd wager."

"Yeah, I'm afraid I had neither the time nor the inclination to explain things." Joker said darkly. "A little bit of shouting was in order, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, I'm just glad I wasn't on the receiving end." The maiden said with a toothy smile. "Anyway, if you don't mind, I'd really like to know what this is all about now. please? Preferably without too much yelling, sir."

"As if I'd ever yelled at you." Joker smiled as he guided his chair over to the desk. "I would never do such a thing." There was an almost imperceptible change in the feel of the room, very soft humming that was suddenly gone, as the power was shut down. The old war hero typed around on this desk, tried to switch several devices on and off to make sure the power was really completely gone then turned back to his niece. "Alright then. I'm sure you have some idea as to why I called you here, don't you?"

"Has it got to anything with Charlie by any chance?" Cyra tilted her head to the side.

"Yep, as a matter of fact it does." Joker confirmed the maiden's, admittedly fairly obvious, assumption. "Which is of course the reason I had the power shut down. These weird programs of his are buzzing around all over the net, not to mention our systems. They're everywhere and I'd rather not have this...whatever the hell he is...listening in."

"I see..." Cyra pointed at the high tech chair, her uncle usually used to get around. "...And what about that thing?"

"I had it checked. It's clean." The Admiral replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Or at least as far as my techs could tell. If there's more of the little buggers floating around our systems that we can't find then well...I've just caused a major ruckus in the building for nothing."

"So what's the deal?" Cyra reached for her coffee cup. By now it was almost cold and she put it back down without drinking the last mouthful of the dark brew. "I assume the spectres didn't manage to get a hold of Charlie or else there would be no point to these measures, would there?"

"Yep, that's right." Joker said. "We've got one possible sighting of the fugitive party just a day or two ago and that's pretty much it. Other than that it's all quiet on the western front." He let out a derogatory snort. "There's at least a couple of dozen spectres out there, looking for our artificial friend and so far, wasting a lot of money is just about all they've achieved."

"How do you know all this?" The maiden wanted to know. "I thought high command banned you from receiving intelligence reports that have anything to do with Charlie? Because...how did you put it again? To 'keep you from pulling some silly-ass stunt', I believe?"

"Aye, so they did." The Admiral snickered merrily. "But I still have quite a few friend in high places, so our high and mighty superiors' efforts have kinda gone to waste."

"So...?"

"So now I'm planning to 'pull a silly-ass stunt'." Joker grinned. "Or well...more or less anyway." Without any transition, the old human got serious. "Would you be willing to give this another shot?"

Cyra was taken aback for a second. She had suspected something like this but the wording caught her slightly off guard. "What do you mean, 'would I be willing'?" She wanted to know. "In my experience that's usually not how it works."

"In this case it does." Any trace of humour was now gone from the old Human's voice. "I'm not going to order you to do this. You'd be pretty much on your own on this one, operating deep within the Terminus systems." Cyra opened her mouth to say something but Joker stopped her, holding up a restraining hand. "So here's the deal: The current whereabouts of the AI, the professor and his little merc unit are unknown. They were last seen a few days ago and that's not even a confirmed sighting and since we can't really trust our computers you'd really have to gather information the old fashioned way...by asking around, looking for eyewitnesses...things like that. And to top it all off this whole thing would be completely off the record, so the support I could give you would be limited...to say the least."

"Well that sounds pretty appealing." Cyra commented wryly, screwing up her nose. "You got any good news as well...sir?"

"You could take your current squad with you." Joker replied with a humourless smile. "If we can manage to convince him to go along, Lieutenant Murphy and his gunship...and I could get you some funds to get around the Terminus." The old war hero absently rubbed the back of his neck. "That's pretty much it. That's about the maximum I can get away with without setting off alarm bells all over central command."

"I see..." The maiden said slowly, puffing up her cheeks as she thought about what had been said. "Don't think people in the Terminus are going to be happy with us running about, poking our noses in their affairs on top of the spectres."

"Well, they don't need to know where you're from, do they?" Joker said. "But whatever the case, I'm sure we can arrange something so that at least Aria's people are going to leave you alone. Other than that...look I'm not trying to say that things can't potentially get very hairy. Which, again, is why I'm not making this an order."

"How would we even move around the Terminus?" Cyra absently ran an index finger over her forehead, contemplating the dilemma. "Murph's gunship isn't exactly suited for long voyages."

"Privately owned freighters." The Human replied with a shrug. "There's plenty of honest traders – and not so honest ones – who'll gladly ferry you around if the price is right. Intelligence types use 'em all the time."

"Cute." The maiden commented dryly. There was a brief silence as Cyra contemplated the task some more. "Uncle, don't you think this is a bit of a wild goose chase?" She inquired. "I mean the galaxy is quite the big place. Finding someone who doesn't want to be found by just asking around...Well doesn't seem to be particularly promising if you know what I'm saying."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Joker smirked. "It's alright, you can say it: The silly old fool has come up with a crazy idea once again. I'm aware the chances of success aren't good but I think it's worth a shot regardless." He could see the doubts in her face and continued quickly. "Look, I won't make you run about the Terminus for all eternity. If you _do_ go out there and can't find a lead, just come back and we'll forget about it."

"Okay." Cyra still didn't quite know what to make of this. "Let's say we go out there and we _do _manage to catch up with our 'friends'. Then what? What am I to do? Am I supposed to drag Charlie to the Citadel, kicking and screaming and all?"

The old Admiral didn't answer right away. Instead he floated over to the window and stared out for a while. "I can't really tell you. Bringing the AI back here is what the spectres are going to do, given the chance." He sighed. "And that's actually the reason I want to send you back out there in the first place."

"I'm afraid, I don't quite understand."

"I'm well aware that I don't know that much about this Charlie but...I don't think he means us any harm." Joker said. "I mean, my techs are completely baffled by these programs he has roaming through our systems and all our leading experts aren't faring any better. I'm sure you remember how Charlie took out one of our heavy cruisers. Just like that." Joker added with a snap. "He could have done a lot of damage to us if he'd wanted to and yet he didn't. But what if the spectres manage to corner him? What then? Is he going to light the fuse?"

So..." Cyra chewed on her lower lip. She had never quite thought about that. "Am I to work against the spectres then...?"

"No, you are to find our 'friends' before they do, if you possibly can." Joker corrected his niece. "As to what you do if you find them...I'm afraid I can't give you any hard directives. Situations this crazy aren't covered by standard regulations, ye see. Anyway, you know Charlie better than I do. You've interacted with him, I didn't. Then there is that girl, living with you at the moment. This Lien, I hear may have a special...hmmm...' relationship' with this AI. Talk to her. Maybe she can give you some insights. I know it sounds kinda stupid in this instance but I'd say just do what you think is best."

"Do what I think is best..." Cyra echoed and rubbed the back of her neck. "First you give me an almost impossible task, then you tell me that you have no idea what I should do _if_ I achieve it."

"I know, I know." The Admiral smiled weakly. "I'd rather things were different as we, believe me. But sadly they're not."

"You know, uncle." The maiden felt compelled to point out. "Your move to have the power shut down is all fine and dandy but if Charlie's programs are really as widespread as your techs think, he'll see us coming anyway."

"Maybe, maybe not." Joker shrugged. "Besides, our artificial buddy is only half the reason for this little stunt of mine. Those government officials that'd visited me knew a little too much for my liking."

"I see."

"Yeah anyway, we should finish. Can't leave the power off for much longer." Joker muttered, getting momentarily distracted as he checked the time. "Speaking of which, it's a bloody miracle that nobody has come banging at my door because the power is out. People happy they don't have to work, I shouldn't wonder."

"Could be." Cyra snickered, remembering Alex expressing disgust with office work. The mood in the office lightened up a bit as Asari and Human fooled about for a while, making light-hearted jokes about clerks and red tape in general. "Anyway." The maiden needed a few moments to get serious again, still giggling about her uncle's last quip. "What about the professor? What do we do with that guy? _If_ we actually manage find them."

Joker's face darkened immediately. "Try to bring him back so that we can put him on trial." He growled. "But should the guy have an accident and, say, get his head or other parts blown off or something, you won't hear me complaining."

"Glad to hear it." Cyra smiled humourlessly as a bit of a riot seemed to break out in the outer office. "Looks like people finally noticed the power's gone."

"So it would seem." The old war hero grimaced.

The maiden took a deep breath. "Can I think about this for a bit before I make my decision?"

"Of course, kid. In fact I would suggest that you do think about this very carefully." Joker nodded approvingly. "But I'm afraid I can't give you much more that twenty-four hours for that. We need to get this going or the trail will go cold."

"Twenty-four hours is fine." Cyra said. "Is there something else or can I go...sir?"

"Nah, you're dismissed, Lieutenant." The old Admiral smirked. His voice stopped her as she was about half way to the door. "And Cyra?" He said. "I just want you to know that if you choose _not_ to go after Charlie...I certainly won't think any less of you."

* * *

"Doctor?"

"That's professor, if you please." Cordalis said mechanically, barely looking up from the scientific item displayed on his data pad.

"Sure." The mercenary, standing in the door frame, shrugged indifferently. "Whatever. Say listen, the boss would like to know how much longer we're supposed to stay in this dump." If the wording hadn't made what the man thought of this particular space station abundantly clear, the look on his face certainly would have. It wasn't that the rogue academic disagreed with the sellsword about the quality of their current domicile. The problem was that the had only the vaguest of ideas as to how to proceed from here. But he wasn't about to admit that to any of these mercs.

"For the time being we stay here." He said as nonchalantly as he possibly could, trying to appear confident. "If it's time to move out, I'll let you know in due time."

"Uh-huh?" The merc made a face.

"Is that a problem?" The scientist demanded.

"I s'pose not." The man growled as he turned around to leave. "At least as long as you keep the payments up it won't be."

As soon as the door had closed, Cordalis put the pad away, leaned against the wall behind him and buried his face in his hands. Where did it all go so horribly wrong? Right when he agreed to his old dorm mate's proposal was of course the obvious answer but the academic wasn't prepared to admit that to himself just yet. Damn, if only..."

"You know." Charlie suddenly piped up from his position on the room's rickety desk. "I'd actually like to know how you intend to proceed from here as well."

"I don't know, alright?" The scientist barked, having to resist the temptation to throw his data pad against the wall to vent his frustration. Somewhere in the back of his mind Cordalis found it weird that he actually preferred to talk to the Charlie rather than his hired goons. Then again it kind of wasn't. At least there was no danger that the AI was going to shoot him in the face.

"So...you don't really have a plan." The artificial voice stated.

"For now I'm happy to just stay out of jail, thank you very much." The rogue academic snapped. "How's that for a plan?"

"Yeah...I don't know." A small holographic fisherman appeared, casually sitting on the metal box looking like someone who'd left all his cares behind as he cast his fishing rod. "Are you sure this..." The figure made a sweeping gesture with one hand. "...is better than a prison cell?"

"And why the hell would you care?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Charlie snickered impertinently. "You're such a gracious host...I mean, why wouldn't I care?"

"Yeah, that's very funny." Cordalis spat venomously. "Really funny indeed."

"One does what one can, _professor._"

"Yeah, if you were more than a bunch of tightly packed circuitry, a career as a Comedian would be quite fitting for you." There was no sign that the insult had any effect on the artificial sentience. There was only more of Charlie's cool chuckling that tended to drive the scientist up the wall. "I should throw you into the nearest black hole and be done with it." He muttered under his breath.

"I'm sure you'd love to do that, buddy." Charlie was unruffled. "But then you'd of course have ruined your career and your life for absolutely nothing. Your situation, _professor_, is what some might call a bitch."

Cordalis angrily glared at the hologram. "Your situation doesn't seem to me much better either."

"Well, I don't really have control over my situation at the moment, _professor_." The AI responded calmly. "So I at least can claim that it's not my own fault."

"Don't give me that shit. You could have simply refused to break the security of that spectre's ship." The academic pointed out heatedly. "So it _is_ at least in part 'your fault' that you're here. You don't want to end up in a citadel lab any more than I want to go to jail."

"Oh...oh, I suppose you got me there, _professor_." Charlie snickered gleefully. The holographic fisherman took off his hat and made a mock bow. "The thing is...While I would admittedly not be all too happy if I got taken to your citadel...I could live with it. Could you live with spending the rest of your days in some sort of penal institution as well?"

"What the heck _do _you want?"

The holographic figure scratched the back of this head, apparently contemplating. "Nah, sorry pal, but that, I'm afraid is none of your business. I'd rather retain an air of mystery, if you don't mind." Naturally the scientist did mind but he knew it was useless to make a corresponding remark. "All I'm going to say is that I'd like to leave your sphere of influence."

Cordalis knew that it was pointless to try and get more information out of the artificial being but he made a couple of attempts anyway, more out of boredom than any real reason. After about a quarter of an hour of fruitless probing he gave up and went back to reading the scientific article on his data-pad, barely noticing the soft hum of the space station's power systems as he eventually fell asleep.

* * *

"Hey." Cyra didn't react to her boyfriend right away. Alex had to give her a gentle nudge to make the maiden snap out of her brooding.

"Hm?" For a moment Cyra just looked around blankly.

"Your turn." The archaeologist pointed at the game board.

"Oh...right."

"Someone has her head in the clouds, huh?" Rhea eyed her eldest sibling with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. She'd been like that pretty much the whole time since she'd come back from the meeting with the maidens' uncle.

"Not quite in the clouds." Cyra stated dryly as she snatched the twenty sided dice from the table. "In the gutter is more like it."

Rhea's fascinating purple eyes narrowed a little as she waited for something more, hoping her sister to elaborate. "Must have been quite the talk with uncle Joker." She remarked when it was clear that Cyra wasn't going to.

"Yeah, you could say that." The older maiden replied monosyllabically, frustrating her sibling by not going into details. Cyra made a face as she rolled the dice. The cast didn't exactly go her way. "You know what?" She said as she rose out of her chair. "You guys just go on without me okay? I gotta get some fresh air."

The others at the table, Alex, Ashley, Rose, Rhea and Lien, exchanged clueless glances but no one said anything. They went back to their game, some of them figuring whatever was going on with Cyra wasn't their business, the others thinking it was best to just leave her be for a while. Naturally Alex's gaze rested a bit longer on the door, the maiden had disappeared behind, than the others'.

"Wonder where she's expecting to get 'fresh air' here on the citadel."

After exiting her family flat, Cyra went straight down to the lake, finding the spot where she and Alex had been fooling about not too long ago. For a while she walked aimlessly up and down the banks of the artificial lake, recalling the talk with her uncle earlier that day. She was quite surprised when she saw a familiar face, apparently doing the same thing.

"Didn't expect to find you here." Hannah stopped drawing strange, entwined figures into the sand with her finger and looked up. "I figured you were off celebrating, doing some crazy thing." Cyra grinned impishly. "You know, like bungee jumping or something."

"Bungee jumping is for babies." The youngest Shepard snorted, the corners of her mouth slightly twitching upwards.

"I see..." Cyra snickered, grateful for an opportunity to clear her mind a bit. "But seriously, how come you're not painting the town right now?"

"Oh I was..." Hannah responded with a dismissive wave of her left hand, resuming to drawing lines into the fine gravel with her right. "For a while anyway. But sometimes I prefer to take it easy."

"Oh really?" The older maiden cocked her head to the side as she eyed her sibling, unable to resist to add a pointed: "Since when?"

"Oh bugger off, you bloody beanpole." The fighter jockey-to-be tried to shove her much taller sibling away. "Contrary to popular belief, sometimes even I like to stop and think about...things."

"Is that so?" This time Cyra was able to stand up to the temptation to tease the younger Asari. "Anything I can help you with?" She wanted to know. There had been times she'd been half thinking to strangle her youngest sister. Basically every time she'd had to babysit while maidens' parents were away. Even at a very young age Hannah had been pretty much impossible to keep under control. Being the eldest it had of course then always been Cyra having to face the music when her youngest sibling had managed sneak away or break something. For whatever reason, however, she now felt a little more protective towards Hannah than towards her other sisters.

"Nah not really." The younger maiden replied after a moment of thinking. "It just...you know it just feels kinda weird...I've wanted to be a fighter pilot before I could walk...well almost anyway...And now that I'm apparently almost there..." Hannah picked up a handful of sand and let it trickle through her fingers. "Like I said it just feels kinda weird. You know? Kinda if you'd gotten the present you've always wanted for VR-day but it didn't turn out to be as great as you'd imagined."

"You're not going to go all broody on me now, are ya?" Cyra said and gave her sister a playful nudge. "Are you feeling ill or something?"

"Would you leave me alone?" Hannah snapped. She seemed to be embarrassed. Almost if she didn't want to get caught being to contemplative and wanted to retain an air of carelessness. "What are you doing here anyway?" The younger Asari wanted to know, slipping back to her usual, cocky self. "Wouldn't you rather play 'hide the salami' with your significant other?"

Cyra couldn't help but snicker at Hannah's quip, shaking her head slightly. "You know, contrary to popular belief we don't spend all of our private time getting it on, Alex and I."

"Are you sure? 'Cause sometimes it sure as hell sounds like it."

"Bah! Sounds more like someone's imagination is running amok." Cyra snorted. "Got a dirty mind, do we, sis?"

"Pffft." Hannah produced a naughty sound. "As if one needed much in the way of imagination to figure out what those noises mean that come out of your room on a regular basis." The maiden briefly turned her head away as she spotted a certain Human, walking over. "Speaking of the devil..." She said, stood up and wiped some sand and dust off her butt. "...There's your beau so I better scram. Wouldn't want to disturb your pillow talking."

"You _really _have a dirty mind." Cyra shook her head again.

"Yeah, yeah." Hannah grinned. "You worry about keeping your own mind clean, will ya? I don't wanna have to explain to mum and dad why you were found doing indecent things in public."

"Hah! That would actually be a nice change!" Cyra shouted at her departing sister's back. "So far I've always been the one having to do the explaining!"

"Sure big C." The youngest Shepard waved merrily. "Have fun you two! I'm gonna go bungee jumping...or something!"

"What was that all about?" Having discreetly stayed in the background, Alex came walking over as his girlfriend was muttering something unintelligible.

"Apparently Hannah is worried that we're about to do it right here, right now." Cyra replied, her snort being of a really strong ironic colour.

"Really?" The scientist burst out laughing. "What on earth gave her that idea?"

"Oh, I don't know." The young Asari leaned against her boyfriend as he sat down besides her and put an arm around his waist. "She seems to think that we're all over one another whenever she isn't around."

"Well, if it was up to me..." Alex let his voice die off, grinning as he planted a kiss on the maiden's cheek.

"Of course...if it was up to you..." Cyra laughed and pressed her body against his a little tighter. "Randy bugger."

"Why thank you."

"You'd better not change there, you hear?"

"Have you've ever, you know, done it in public?"

"Why do you ask?" Cyra put a little distance between them and eyed her boyfriend somewhat suspiciously.

"Just curious." Alex snickered, raising both his hand defensively.

"No, I haven't" Cyra snuggled up against the Human again. "Don't consider myself an exhibitionist, really. What about you?"

"Nope." The archaeologist frowned slightly as he recalled his youth back on Horizon. "Well, unless you count some really awkward fumbling on the back seat of a skycar as having sex in public."

"You didn't get beyond the fumbling part?" The maiden inquired, a mischievous smile dancing around her lips. "Sounds like a story."

"No! No! No, it really isn't." Alex stated firmly. "And besides it is just a wee bit embarrassing, alright?"

"Aww, come on." Cyra made several attempts to pry something out of her boyfriend but the scientist refused steadfastly and eventually she gave up.

"So..." Alex spoke up after a couple of minutes worth of silence. "What's been on your mind today?"

"Hm?"

"You've been awfully contemplative ever since you've come back from visiting your Admiral uncle." The scientist observed, he hesitated for a moment almost afraid to ask. "Bad news?"

"Not really. It looks like..." She wasn't supposed to talk about that, was she? Screw that! Alex had been abducted by Cordalis' goons, spending weeks in captivity. He had a bloody right to know. "Well, it looks like our 'friends' have been spotted in the Terminus somewhere."

"By friends you of course mean..." He didn't finish the sentence. There really was no need to.

"Yeah." Cyra mumbled. "And now I got a bit of decision to make."

"What..." Alex' face fell. "They want to send you after 'em, don't they?"

"Sort of..." The maiden proceeded to explain what the deal was, going as much into the details as she could. It took a couple minutes, the scientist's face remaining neutral and pretty much unreadable as he listened.

"So..." He drawled after she'd ended. "Are you going to go?" Judging by the look on his face the Human was unsure whether he really wanted to know.

"I don't know yet." Cyra blankly stared at her feet. "That's what all the contemplating was about."

Alex's eyes narrowed as he studied his girlfriend's features for quite a while. "You are going to go, don't you?"

"I'm not sure yet, Alex, alright?" Cyra noisily expelled her breath, believing to detect a reproach in his statement. "I...dammit yes I _am _thinking of going. I want the bastard that had you abducted. The one that's responsible for my sister and your assistant almost getting raped. I want his god damn dick in a sling!"

"Why the heck has it got to be you who goes and get him?" The scientist demanded heatedly. "Can't you let somebody else sort this mess out for a change?"

"Come on, Alex!" Cyra threw her hands up in exasperation. "If our positions were reversed you wouldn't just be content to stay on the sidelines either, would ya?" They were now talking loudly enough for some of be passer-by to look their way.

Alex glared at his girlfriend for a moment, before he deflated a little. "Ffff...Guess not!" He grudgingly had to admit. "But come on: trying to find that fella in the Terminus? That could take frikkin' months!"

"If not longer." The maiden confirmed.

The archaeologist leaped to his feet and walked back and forth in agitation. When he spoke again his voice was so soft that the young Asari could barely understand him. "What about me?" He said. "Am I supposed to sit on my ass for months...Without knowing how you're doing...Without even knowing where you are..."

Cyra opened and closed her mouth for a few times as she groped for an answer. Suddenly the scientist whirled around and stormed off. "Alex, wait!"

"I...I just have to be alone for a moment. I need some time to think." He said with a weak smile, stopping briefly. "Later."

"Ahhh!" Cyra buried her face in her hands after her boyfriend had disappeared out of sight. Then she leaned forward until she could see her reflection in the water. "Well done, Cyra" She growled, scowling at herself. "Way to go, girl. You're a real hero."

She sat there for a while, hoping that he'd come back. When he didn't she eventually went home, thinking of what to say to her boyfriend. To her surprise, Alex was already waiting for her when she entered the apartment. "Look, Alex..." She began, but he stopped her by raising a hand.

"Darling." He said earnestly, looking her in the eyes. "_If _you choose to go after the professor..." He paused and took a deep breath. "...I want to go with you."

Cyra blinked. "Uhhh..." Her first impulse was to laugh out loud at the obvious joke. Only it wasn't a joke. "What?"


	34. Chapter 34

"You've got to be out of your mind." Cyra stared at the archaeologist in stunned disbelief. The maiden was so flustered that she found it difficult to finish her reply, her mind wildly jumping from one possible rebuttal to the next. "You...you can't just..." She walked over to one of the couches, sat down and took a breath in order to stop spluttering. "This is a military operation." She pointed out after cooling down just a tiny bit. "You...you can't just...come along...just like that."

"Hey look, I'm not asking to 'just come along' like some sort of tourist, alright?" Alex replied as he sat down beside his girlfriend. "If you really want to go after Cordalis and his goons...I can be of assistance."

"Oh really?" Cyra stifled a barbed remark, irritably letting her gaze wander over her boyfriend's face. "And how exactly _do _you plan on being of assistance if I may ask?" Her sense of humour managed to get through the irritation. "I mean, I could use the moral support but..."

"I can provide much more than just moral support." Alex smirked. "Now I admit I haven't really been to the Terminus in a couple of years but I still know my way around." He saw the doubtful look on Cyra's face and quickly continued before she could voice any possible misgivings. "I know where to find trustworthy...well _more or less_ trustworthy freighter captains. I know what regions to avoid, where and how to get some extra supplies...I know how the people in there are wired...how to get them to open up...That and...well I just might be able to find some information sources you couldn't."

Cyra studied the scientist through half closed eyes. "Are you trying to tell me you know..._people_?" She finally demanded.

"Not exactly." Alex grinned impishly. "But I know people who know _people_, if you know what I'm sayin'."

"Is that so?"

"Yep, I mean my parents alone have some...umm...say, sketchy contacts."

"Didn't you tell me your parents were running a simple import/export business on Horizon?"

"That they do." The archaeologist chuckled. "But even as a respectable businessman you sometimes get in contact with people that aren't entirely above board. At least in the Terminus systems...and probably also in Citadel space." The suspicious look on Cyra's face told him that further explanations were required. Alex sighed. "And besides, there were times in my youth where I fancied myself a bit of a rebel."

The tension in the room, while it didn't quite evaporate completely, it at least decreased a little bit as the maiden let out a brief burst of laughter. "A bit of a rebel." Cyra echoed. "Oh boy." Cyra sat back, resting against the soft cushion, and massaged her temples.

"Well of course I can provide some moral support as well, don't you worry about that." The scientist grinned. Seemed like he was making some progress.

"Glad to hear it." The young Asari smiled weakly as the pressure in her forehead slowly dissipated. "But that's not really what I'm worried about." She puffed up her cheeks. "That we're probably going to get shot at at some point along the way bloody well is!"

Alex bit his lower lip, feeling a bit less confident than a moment ago. "I can handle a gun." He stated lamely.

"Rebellious youth, huh?" Cyra's eyes narrowed.

"Nope, mandatory six month service in the Horizon planetary defence force."

"Splendid." The maiden said sarcastically. "But handling a gun really isn't the main problem."

"Hm?"

"Every bloody idiot can shoot a gun." Cyra growled. "That's not the problem. People shooting back at you is the problem."

"At _us_." Alex could feel his own temper rising a little. "They'll be shooting at _us_ if anything. And last I checked, you're no more impervious to bullets than I am."

"I know what I'm doing!" The maiden snapped headedly and jumped off the couch. On the other side of the room the door to Rhea's room opened a tiny crack only to quickly close again, the Asari model apparently thinkingbetter of getting involved. "The whole point of all the training I got in the alliance is how to deal with people shooting at you!"

"Look, I'm not asking to go into the trenches with you people." Alex said, trying to keep his voice down. "But I sure as hell don't wanna sit around here while you're out there doing god knows what, god knows where for god knows how long. I mean..." He rose as well, walked over and took her hands. "Is that really so hard to understand, darling?"

Cyra stared into his eyes for a few moment before she turned away and fell into the nearest armchair, muttering a curse. "No it isn't." The maiden sighed. She took some time to organize her thoughts. "So...exactly what have you been doing in the planetary defence forces hm?"

The Human grimaced and scratched the back of this head. "Well apart from some basic combat training, I spent the most of my time in a remote sensor installation." He looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm not saying I'd be much of an asset in a firefight but I might be able to help you _avoiding _trouble. And if not, I can at least defend myself."

"Basic training..." Cyra mumbled, letting her voice die off as her boyfriend sat down and wriggled about on the sofa uneasily. "How the heck would that even work?" She suddenly blurted out and before Alex knew it she was up and pacing around the small table in the middle of the upholstered suite. "I can't just go to uncle Jeff and tell him you'd like to tag along."

"Why not?" The scientist inquired, looking up at the maiden. "This...hmmm...operation is supposed to be off the record, isn't? I figure, taking someone along who knows how things are going in the Terminus, a guide if you will, would be in order." He paused for a moment. "Wouldn't you say?"

Cyra momentarily glared at the Human before she sat down once more. "What's so funny?" She demanded as she saw him smirk.

"Well." Alex chuckled softly. "I was just wondering how many more times you intended to stand up and sit down. It that part of your exercise regimen by any chance?"

"Oh shut up." The maiden grunted, the corners of her mouth clearly twitching upwards when his chuckle turned into a laugh. She tilted her head back and stared at the parlor's expensive, wooden ceiling as she contemplated her boyfriend's suggestion a bit more thorough. The idea did have some merit, she couldn't deny that. Having someone along who was familiar with the Terminus would undoubtedly be useful. There was an entire network of alliance and citadel agents operating in there of course. Her uncle had provided her with a small list of people she could go to for information and supplies. However, as far a she was concerned, the less she had to rely on intelligence types, the better. Potentially putting Alex in harm way was where the problems arose in her mind.

She pushed those thoughts aside and pushed herself out of the chair yet again.

"Well?" Alex asked. "What do you say?"

"Gotta talk to uncle Joker about this." The maiden replied. "We can discuss this 'till kingdom come, if he says no..." There was no need to finish the sentence so Cyra didn't bother. She headed for the door.

"Are you hoping your Admiral uncle is going to say no?" The scientist wanted to know. It sounded almost like an accusation in Cyra's ears. The door handle already in hand she turned around to find Alex eyeing her suspiciously.

"No." She said solely, said it and was out the door.

* * *

The archaeologist expelled his breath noisily. "Well, that could have gone better." He muttered to himself. Could have gone substantially worse as well though. At least Cyra hadn't flat out refused to take him along. For a lack of something other to do he picked up his data pad from the table and searched the extranet for a bit of entertainment. He figured he might as well have some fun while he waited for the verdict. It didn't take long until he found a nice and juicy scientific article to read. Unfortunately Alex found it a awfully hard to focus at the moment and after a couple of minutes he gave up. "Screw it." He mumbled and got up. He'd go for a stroll along the lake and attempt to unwind.

As he was heading for the maid door Rhea came out of the room and carefully surveyed the room. "Where's ma big sis?" She asked.

"Errr..." Lost in thought the Asari beauty's question caught Alex by surprise. "Went over to see your high ranking uncle again." He said with a vague gesture to the outside. "Why?"

"Just curious." The maiden said quickly. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk in the park." The scientist raised a brow, eyeing his girlfriend's younger sister curiously. Something seemed to be slightly off with her today. Or was it just him?

"That's good. You could use the exercise, I'm sure." Rhea said absently.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex didn't quite know whether to be insulted or amused.

"Nothing." The maiden headed back to her room, activating her omni tool. "Never mind. Have fun."

"Thanks." The archaeologist replied dryly, watching Rhea disappear in her room. After a few more moments, wondering if there was something cooking, he shrugged and went out the door.

The scientist was out there, strolling through the park for much longer than he'd originally intended but the walk certainly had been really refreshing. Alex certainly felt better as he walked up the stairs to the Shepard apartment almost two hours later. Was Cyra already back from the alliance offices, he wondered.

He saw the man, coming down the stairs in a hurry, a tiny bit too late to prevent a collision. He held onto the handrail as he struggled to keep himself from tumbling down the stairs. "Jesus, what the..." His jaw dropped when he recognized the other Human. "Lieutenant Murphy?" The gunship pilot had a bit of a dishevelled look about him. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Murpy coughed as he picked himself up, fumbling around with his tie, trying to tie it properly. "As a matter of fact, I was never here, alright?"

"Errr...okaaay." Alex drawled, too dumbfounded to come up with a decent answer as he watched the pilot scurry away in a hurry.

Shaking his head in bewilderment the scientist tapped the dust off his clothes and entered the flat. Things actually started to make some sense when he saw Rhea, lounging about on one of the sofas, wearing a silken bathrobe. "What was Lieutenant Murphy doing here?" He asked nonetheless, an impish smirk on his lips.

"I beg your pardon?" The maiden seemed to flinch a little. Was her face of a little darker shade of teal or was he just imagining things, Alex wondered.

"Lieutenant Murphy." The archaeologist repeated. "He basically ran me down when I walked up the stairs so..."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She unwittingly tightened the silken strap around her waist, holding the robe together. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened around here. Absolutely nothing. I just needed a shower, alright?"

"Of course, of course." Alex stifled a laugh with some effort. "Far be it from me to try and establish any salacious theories."

"Oh shut up."

* * *

It had been quite a while since he'd been to the barracks, Mike thought with some amusement as he showed the guard at the gate his ID. As a still active marine he could have of course chosen to reside here but why the hell would he do that if he didn't have to? Angie's small but tastily furnished apartment was a much more comfortable place to live. Not to mention much more private. It took a bit of asking around to get some directions, getting mislead at first, but eventually he found his former squad mates' hiding hole.

"Well would you look at that?" Mike flinched and cursed inwardly as his attempt to surprise his old buddies was foiled by Johanson of all people. "If we don't have a prodigal son returning..." The enormous woman snickered as she walked over with a broad grin on her face. "What are you doing here, old chap?"

"Johanson." Despite his undetected approach being thwarted, Mike returned the Amazon's grin as she gave him a playful nudge. "One of these days you'll have to tell me how you manage to hide in a corner like that."

"Who's hiding here?" Kelly snickered merrily. "You were the one sneaking through the building like some sort of James Bond."

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, I'm nothing but a humble grunt." The heavy weapon specialist pointed out gleefully. "But anyway..." Kelly put an arm around the smaller man's shoulder and pulled him along, making Mike wonder if that's how a toy doll felt like. "...let's go see the guys, shall we?"

"That's why I'm here."

"Hey guys. Look who happened to come along the way."

"Howdy fellas." Addressed his former squad members, somewhat sheepishly rubbing his aching upper arm. "How's it going?"

For a moment there was an almost eerie silence in the room. Then everybody in the room except for a very pretty blonde quickly came over, loudly and excitedly talking over each other. Mike naturally barely understood a word but he found the fact that his old buddies were just as glad to see him as he was to see them really honestly heart warming. A lot of questions were asked for him to answer. What he was doing right now, where he was staying, questions about his health, how much time in the corps he had left and so on. There was, of course a couple of suggestive comments and speculations as to what him and his girlfriend were surely doing on a regular basis.

"Looks like you guys have been doing pretty well." He wryly remarked as he was introduced to the pretty blonde marine.

"Yeah, our beauty index has gone up a bit as of late." Goldstein grinned, getting a 'shut up' from two different sources for his trouble.

"So are you guys about to roll out or something?" Mike wanted to know, after a little more fooling about, as he looked around the room. "Where are you going? Back to the dig?"

"Nope." Some uneasy glances were exchanged amongst the marines. "We're not really supposed to talk about it. You know how it is." Kelly said.

"Ah yes, of course." Mike's face fell a little. He'd been hoping to come over semi-regularly from now on but by the sound of that wasn't going to happen. "You're not going to be back any time soon I take it?"

"Not sure but probably not. Look, we _really _aren't supposed to talk about it." The giantess said apologetically as she turned to her squad mates. "As a matter of fact we'd better get a move on people. We don't have much time. "

"Oy, looks like someone got promoted." Mike only now noticed Chief chevrons on Kelly's uniform.

"Yeah." The Amazon showed an ironic smirk. "Apparently someone figured I had...how do they put it...'some leadership potential'. And I mean, who am I to argue with some rear echelon knuckleheads? No offence."

It took Mike a moment to realize what she meant. "None taken." He chuckled. He'd never quite thought about it but technically he _did_ belong to the infamous rear echelon now. Certainly not by choice but still. "I'd much rather hang out on the front line with you guys than sit around an office for hours at a time, trying not to fall asleep." The young man grimaced, scratching the back of his head. "I can tell you that."

"Well I s'pose there's gotta be _some_ downside to being able to sleep in a soft be with decent company to boot." Kelly winked at him.

"Yeah I guess I can't complain too much, can I?" Mike smiled. "Well anyway, I guess I'd better go now. You guys...A hell, just take care of yourselves alright? Don't wanna have to write your mothers because you've forgotten to bring warms socks or something."

"Don't worry about that." Petrow grinned as Mike went from marine to marine, shaking hands with each to say goodbye. "Better worry about yourself, will ya? Don't let your diplomat sweetheart tire you out."

"She's a doctor, dumbass."

"Oh-ho. Playing doctor, huh?" The other man grinned unashamedly. "Even better."

"Yeah, fuck you too." Mike snickered, not too gently punching the other man in the shoulder. "See ya around fellas. Do me a favour and tell the LT that I said hi, okay?"

"Will do." The young man's brain barely registered Kelly's answer as he left the room. He was already busy wondering what his former buddies were up to. Sure he wasn't going to get an answer just thinking about it but he just couldn't help it. As he passed the security checkpoint at the main gate once more, he did tell himself to pay a little more attention at work from now on. There was a lot of information floating through the corridors of the local alliance HQ but so far he hadn't really been very attentive. Well that was about to change.

The only question now was what to do now. Angie wasn't going to come home for several hours and he wasn't about to sit around in her flat all by himself until then. Ah well, he thought looking around. These were the citadel wards. If he couldn't find a way to pass a few hours here, there'd be something deeply wrong.

* * *

"Oh by the way Lieutenant .Corporal Leh told us to say hi. " Kelly said as she watched a petty officer struggle adjust a light chest plate to the appropriate size. "He came by the barracks just before we moved out." She explained as she noticed the quizzical look on her platoon leader's face.

"Thanks." Cyra simply replied and briefly stopped to fiddle around with her own new set of light armour, trying to get it set up properly. "How's he doing?" She wanted to know. The Corporal and his girlfriend had visited their place not too long ago but she asked anyway. If you had as many of your internal organs replaced by cloned ones as him, things could go wrong very quickly as much as six months after the fact. Or so she'd been told anyway.

"Seemed to be doing great." Kelly smiled, in part because the difficulty of the armoury staff to get the size of her combat suit right greatly amused her. "Don't think he likes his new job very much though. Office work doesn't seem to be to Mike's taste."

"He's not the only one." The maiden smirked as she remembered the frequent expression of displeasure on Alex' part. Not that she could blame the boys. Sitting at a desk in a sterile office the whole day wouldn't be to her taste either.

"Do I really have to wear one of these?" As if he'd sensed his girlfriend's thought revolving around him at this very moment, the scientist walked over, obviously not very pleased with his set of armour. "Is this really necessary?"

"If you want to come along, then yes." Cyra stated firmly. In this respect she didn't intend to make any compromises.

"Cheer up, doc." Kelly grinned. "This stuff is way more comfortable to wear than our regular suits, I can tell you that. You'll get used to it pretty quickly."

"Is that so?". The particular suits the marines and the scientist were trying on at the moment were designed to be worn underneath regular clothing. The way Alex understood it, they were expected to wear pretty much constantly from the moment they left the citadel and headed for the Terminus. The archaeologist made a face as he walked around a bit, jumping up and squatting down as he tried to get a feel for how it was going to be to wear this stuff all the time. "Well anyway, it's really not the inconvenience that bothers me so much. It's the reason for the inconvenience that worries me, Chief."

"Well that's why you're coming along, isn't it?" Kelly pointed out. For some reason she found the scientist's discomfort quite amusing. "To keep us bumbling buffoons from getting into trouble too much?"

"Well yes." Alex gave the huge woman a baleful look. "Except of the 'bumbling buffoons' part. Or at least I'd hope so, Chief."

"We'll see." Kelly snickered softly. "But you _really_ should start calling by my name, doc."

"Okay." The scientist frowned slightly. "Conversely, if you'd stop calling me doc all the time that would be lovely."

"Will do." The Amazon's grin had something feral about it, Alex thought. "Although, I'm sure there's plenty of medical personnel, crazy scientists and the like in the Terminus getting called doc. But Chief..."

"Alright, alright enough of this." Cyra cut in the conversation. "Chief..." The maiden immediately interrupted herself. She'd better start getting used to calling her marines by their names instead of their ranks as well. After all if they were trying to keep a low profile, they couldn't run around the Terminus using military terms all the time. "_Kelly._" She made a vague gesture towards the rest of the squad, the marines fooling about with their new gear. "Make sure everybody is set up and good to go, would you?"

"Aye Lieut...I mean yes, boss."

Cyra frowned as she checked the time. "And where the hell is Murphy?" She muttered to herself. "He ought to be here right now."

"Err...by the way, boss." Kelly spoke up again. "Can I ask where Chief Charlton is? Haven't seen him..."

"He's not coming." Cyra said soberly. "His contract is running out pretty soon and apparently he has a newborn daughter he's never seen in the flesh so we let him off the hook on this one."

"I see." The Amazon drawled. "Too bad. His experience could have been useful. If you don't mind me saying, sir."

"Yes I know. And stop, calling me sir, will you?" The maiden smirked. "Anyway it's going to be up to you to keep this gang of rascals in check now."

"Oh I almost forgot." Kelly grimaced as she turned around. "A thousand thanks, s...boss!" The huge woman toddled off muttering a curse of some sort, most likely imprecating whoever was responsible for her promotion.

"Well." Alex spoke up on her right. "I'd say I'm set up more or less." He jiggled a little to illustrate his point. "Now what?"

"Let's see about that." Cyra cocked her head to the side as she looked her boyfriend over and walked around him, checking whether all the armour place, straps and buckles were in place and properly fastened.

"Just can't keep your hands off me, can you?" The scientist suggested in a weak attempt to be funny.

The maiden smiled faintly. "Yes, of course. Above all because I'll have considerably less opportunities to do it for a while." She took a step back and looked him over one more time. "Anyway, everything seems to be in order. Everything except..." Without an explanation she walked away add disappeared behind a door, leaving her boyfriend behind feeling a little stupid.

Alex walked around some more. The added weight of the armour plates, embedded energy packs and barrier generator already bothered him a little less as he did some basic gymnastic exercises. Well at least wearing the light combat suit would be less of a hassle than he'd feared. Everything else however...Not for the first time Alex wondered what the heck he thought he was doing. Was he out of his mind? He was a scientist not a secret agent. Apart from, usually very brief, visits to his parents he hadn't been to the Terminus systems for at least half a decade and now he'd lent himself as a guide? It was nuts.

He glanced over to the marines, hanging around on the back of the room. None of them had objected against him coming with them, certainly. However by the looks of it they weren't exactly thrilled about it either. Having to babysit a non-combatant when they had little to no experience with the kind of undercover assignment they were about to embark on, well, he couldn't really blame them for any reservations on their part. The archaeologist sighed. Just another thing he hadn't thought about before he'd requested to accompany his girlfriend into the Terminus. Alex shook his head and drew himself up. He needed to stop brooding, worrying about what was or could go wrong. He wasn't going to back-pedal now. If he had to spent much more time, sitting in an office with barely anything to do, he'd go mad. And he sure as hell had had more than his share of lonely evenings for a while.

"There you go." Alex flinched. Busy with his thoughts he hadn't noticed Cyra coming back. For a split second the scientist just blankly stared at the pistol his girlfriend held out to him. With some hesitation he took the gun, turned it over, looked at it, unsure what exactly he was supposed to do now. Meanwhile the maiden was busy adjusting the straps of a concealed holster then told him to put it on. "When was the last time you've fired a gun, Alex?" Cyra wanted to know as she fumbled about with the holster some more.

"Errr..." The scientist briefly wondered whether a paintball gun qualified but then decided he didn't want to make a fool of himself by asking about it. "I wanna say about..."

"_That_ long ago hm?" Cyra muttered, restraining the urge to make a face. "I wonder if..." She turned away and raised her voice. "Johanson, has our pilot shown up yet?"

"Nope." Came the answer, shouted across the room. "Still no sign of him."

"What could possibly be taking so long?" The young Asari shook her head. "Well then..." She gave Alex a sweet smile, batting her eyelashes at him. "Would you accompany me to the shooting range, kind sir?"

"Certainly, ma'am." Despite feeling a little uncomfortable, holding a gun in his hand, the scientist managed a smile. "I'm not about to deny a lady."

"Very good of you."

* * *

"Well, that wasn't too bad." Cyra said as she studied the target. Most of the shots, except from the some of the very first ones, were reasonably close to the target centre. The archaeologist certainly wasn't going to win any trophies with his shooting any time soon but he was far from hopeless.

"Yeah sure." Alex glared at this girlfriend, certain that he was being made fun of. "Very funny."

"Hey, I'm serious." The maiden snickered. She quickly continued as he began go scowl. "I mean, I'm not going to recommend you for sharpshooter training but...Yeah I can see that you actually know how to handle a gun."

"Thanks." Alex made sure the safety was on before he switched the gun off and put it down. He could vividly remember what unpleasant things tended to happen in basic training whenever a recruit forgot to do that. "I guess." Judging by his tone of voice he remained unconvinced that his girlfriend wasn't simply trying to be nice.

Cyra walked over, put her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. "I mean it." She smiled. "I've seen way worse shooting in my time, I can tell you that." What she of course did not say was that shooting in a range and in a gun battle were two entirely different things. Being able to shoot straight in the mayhem of a firefight wasn't something one could practice like that. But it would have to do for now.

The scientist relaxed a bit and kissed her back as he sneaked an arm around the maiden's midriff. "Well, now I'm really not sure whether I ought to be relieved or even more worried anymore."

"My boys and girls know how to shoot, don't you worry about that." Cyra cautiously looked around the shooting range, checking whether they were really alone before she kissed her boyfriend again, way more deeply this time. If Lieutenant Murphy hadn't suddenly appeared, things might actually have gotten out of hand.

"Shepard?" Cyra reluctantly broke the lip-lock. "Are you in here?"

"Over this way, Murph." The maiden shouted as her breathing normalized. She waited until she saw him to add: "Took your sweet time, didn't ya?"

"Yeah, sorry about that." The gunship driver grimaced. "There's been a problem with my ship, unfortunately."

"What kinda problem?" Cyra immediately inquired with a frown. "Anything serious?"

"Irregularities in one of the engines. Serious enough that it'll have to be addressed before we can launch." Murphy explained tersely. "I've already spoken to the Admiral. The OP has been postponed until these problems can be ironed out."

"Oh, come on..." The young Asari began so scowl when she heard that. "How long is it going to take?"

"Can't say for sure. At least twenty-four hours." The pilot shrugged helplessly. "If the whole engine needs to be replaced...two or three days at the very least."

"Perfect." Cyra growled. It wasn't that she was particularly eager to get on the road again. But having to wait for repairs to finish would mean that the marines would have to sit around, ready to go at a moment's notice, unable to do a much of anything other than waiting. "Juuuust perfect."

Murphy sighed. "Look, get your guys back to the barracks and tell them to take it easy, alright? As soon as I have a better idea as to how long it's going to take to get the gremlins out my ship, I'll call you."

"Fine." The maiden snapped irritably but then she pulled herself together. She hated having to wait but if there was something wrong with the gunship it couldn't be helped and it wasn't the pilot's fault either. At least Cyra assumed so. She was certainly willing to give Murphy the benefit of the doubt in that regard. "You know, Murph." She said her voice much more calm and controlled. "Instead of calling, why don't you simply come over to our place and tell us in person? I'm sure you could use the distraction just as much as we do."

"Umm..." To Cyra's surprise the fighter jockey didn't jump at the offer and awkwardly stared at the ground in front of his feet instead. "I'm not sure..."

"Something wrong?"

"Well, err...nothing's wrong." He mumbled. "But I don't wanna bother you guys. I mean..."

"Come on." The maiden grinned. "I'm sure Hannah would love to hear all about what's wrong with the ship. The two of you could talk shop all evening or something."

Alex just couldn't resist. "Yeah, or something." He snickered. Cyra threw her boyfriend an inquisitive look. "I mean, anything is possible, right?" The scientist grinned. Murphy's ears reddened considerably as he glared at the other man.

"Look." The pilot mumbled as he thought about how to best excuse himself. "I have to get back to the hangar and make sure that nothing _else_ is wrong with my baby. If I got the time I'll drop by later. Just don't count on it okay?"

"Okay, sure." Cyra shrugged absently as she wondered what Alex found so funny. "Suit yourself. Well..." She added as Murphy toddled off. "...Looks like the apocalypse has been adjourned." She pointed down the shooting range. "Why don't you practice a little more, while I give the boys and girls the 'good news'?"

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

"Where are you going?" Rhea stopped on her way to the door and eyed her eldest sibling with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. Cyra's question had sounded suspiciously like a demand and the young Asari didn't appreciate intrusions into her privacy. Be it from paparazzi or family.

"I've got an appointment if you don't mind." The younger maiden snapped.

Cyra eyed her sister warily. Rhea had certainly decked herself out. A dress that enhanced her feminine charms in all the right ways. A few pieces of tasteful jewellery. Subtle but nonetheless very effective make-up. The whole shebang. "Must be one hell of an appointment." She scoffed. The maiden was in a bit of a bad mood at the moment. For three days they'd been hanging around the apartment, unable to go out or do anything other than short walks in the park as they waited for the problems with the gunship to get resolved and Cyra was rapidly getting stir-crazy.

"It is. Not that it's any of your business." Rhea observed coolly as she opened the door. "And I'm already late so...see yaaa."

"Bah." Cyra growled sullenly as she went back to watching a holo-vid. "Fucking...little..."

"What is the matter with you?" Ashley wanted to know with a frown, lounging about in one of the large armchairs together with Rose.

"What?" The older Shepard demanded irritably.

"You've been awfully moody those last two days." Ashley pointed out. She used her omni tool to remotely pause the movie playback. She was enjoying the vid and felt bothered by her older sisters aggressive stance. "Does it have something to do with that mysterious assignment by any chance?"

"Yes it has to do with that mysterious assignment." Cyra parroted the younger maiden venomously and launched herself off she sofa. "I'm gona go down to the lake for a while." She growled. " The air in here is getting awfully stuffy."

The door closed behind her a moment before Alex came out of the kitchen with two plates, each containing a steaming pile of scrambled eggs and hash browns. "Where's..." He began, having not noticed the brief dispute that'd occurred just before.

"Your sweetheart didn't like the air in here anymore, doc." Ashley replied sarcastically and gave Alex a quick round-up as to what had occurred. "She went down to the lake to...Dunno, cool off or something?"

With a sigh the scientist put down the plates on the small table the upholstered suite was arranged around. His girlfriend had become more and more irritated the longer they'd had to wait. "Nah, Alex." Ashley shook her head as the Human prepared to go after her sister. "It's probably best to just leave her alone for a while."

The archaeologist hesitated, looked at the door then looked at Ashley before he finally sat down, making a face. "Hungry?" He asked, pushing one of the plated in Ashley's and Rose's direction. "Doesn't sound like she'll be back before this is gonna go cold." He took the first bit from his own plate.

"Don't mind if I do." Ashley and Rose said almost simultaneously, the redhead reaching for the plate. The scientist's hash browns had pretty much reached legendary status in the household and so had some of his other specialities. "Ah don't worry about Big C, doc." Ashley gave Alex a gentle nudge. By the looks of it he wasn't enjoying his food a whole lot. "She'll get her senses back." She scooped a forkful of food into her mouth as Rose went into the kitchen to get a second set of cutlery. "So anyway." The maiden asked as her girlfriend came back. "What's the big whoop about this...assignment, hm?"

"Don't think, Cyra would be very happy if I talked about that."

"Come on." Ashely shook her head. "It's not like there's a whole lot of possibilities, especially since you're going along. It's about Charlie isn't it?"

The scientist was about to utter a denial but restrained himself. The maiden was right. There weren't a whole lot of possible explanations and he felt silly to despute the obvious. "Actually." Alex snarled. "We're going after that little professor asshole of yours first and foremost." The door opened and Lien walked in, carrying two large bags filled with groceries. The student hat insisted, since she was living at the Shepard place for free, she wanted to help with whatever needed doing in the household. "But you didn't hear that from me, ye hear?"

"Didn't hear what?" Lien asked.


	35. Chapter 35

"Well." The floating chair bounced up and down a little as Joker shifted around a bit, letting it turn towards his assistant. "What do you think?"

"Sir?" Harleen's replied absently, her gaze still fixed on the door, the diverse posse had vanished behind.

"You looked like you were itching to say something several times." The old Admiral remarked. "So, what's on your mind, young lady?"

"Well for one, there seem to be an awful lot of civilians, visiting this office as of late." The Lieutenant said wryly. "Particularly of the Shepard variety."

"Ain't that right." Joker laughed loudly but his facial expression quickly shifted to a much more saturnine look. "The Shepards I wouldn't mind really. Some of the _other_ civilians I could have gladly done without though." He leaned back in his chair. "But that's not all that was on your mind I imagine...was it?"

"Well no. It's just..." Harleen tarried momentarily. "About Lien..."

"You think I should let her go along?" It was more a statement than a question.

"I think it would be at least worth consideration, sir." The young Lieutenant said. "She obviously wants to help and...well...she seems to know more about the AI than anybody else by a country mile."

Joker tilted his head to the side and gave his aide a hard to read stare. "Are you implying that I'm not considering all the option before making a decision?"

"No sir." Harleen stood her ground. By now she'd worked for the old war hero long enough to suspect that he was just trying to yank her chain a little. "I was merely suggesting that...Well, at the risk of being repetitive...Sir, by the sound of it she had insights into this Charlie no one else has. She's spent much more time talking to...him? It?" The young woman briefly lost her train of thought as she got sidetracked. Joker dispensed with cutting in, preferring to just listen. "Whatever. Anyway she obviously cares about him and likewise _he_ seems to care about her as well. At least enough to go through the trouble of helping her getting out of her cell and linking up with Shepard's squad when they attacked." She paused thinking about other points she could make. "So yes, don't you think she could be an asset in this? Sir?"

The old Admiral had his elbows rest on his desk and pressed the fingertips of both hands together as he carefully contemplated his response. "She could certainly be and asset and I _might_ let her go along..._If _it was just about Charlie and nothing else. But it isn't." He stared out of the window. "Shepard and her people need to find our friends first, which I might add isn't going to be a cakewalk. We're talking about wandering through the terminus system for weeks at the very least. Possibly months. Goes without saying that during that time anything could go wrong at anytime. You've never been to the Terminus, Harleen. I have. Things can take a very nasty turn in here _very_ quickly. Shepard and her people are not to be envied as it is. Having a wild card in the game...No, that's simply an unnecessary risk."

Lieutenant Quinzel opened her mouth to say something but Joker wouldn't let her, anticipating what reservations she had. "Now you could of course argue that doctor Gordon qualifies as such as well. Fair point, and I'm not saying I feel entirely comfortable with him going along. But he has at least _some_ idea of what he's getting into. He knows the Terminus. He's had some military training. Admittedly rather limited training but it's better than nothing. Letting him go along as a sort of guide makes sense. The same really can't be said for Lien. Up until the point Shepard finds the AI she'd be just dead weight." Joker interrupted himself. "Man, that sounded way meaner than I wanted it to. Anyway, you know what I mean."

"Aye, sir." Harleen said. "I _do _understand where you're coming from...It's just...Well to be totally honest I feel kinda bad for her, Admiral. I mean, considering what happened." For a moment she blankly stared at the ground in front of her feet. "She really seems to want to be of use in some respect. So I thought..."

"I'm not unsympathetic to Lien's wishes." Joker breathed noisily. "Certainly not after what the poor girl had to endure. But, again, sending her into the unknown along with Shepard and her crew is too much of a risk in my mind. If she wants to help she can team up with Ashley and her girlfriend and see what good she can do from here. _If_ Charlie is found...well...We can still get her out into to Terminus in a fast ship if necessary."

"You don't sound very optimistic." The female Lieutenant observed.

"About Shepard's chances?" The old war hero made a face. "Of course I'm not. Are you? I mean, really?"

"No, not really." Harleen blushed a bit, believing to detect a tiny bit of derision in the Admiral's voice. "But why going through the all this trouble then?"

"A small chance is better than no chance at all." Joker pontificated. "Besides I'm not going to have the spectre's have a go a this one uncontested." He absently scratched his grey beard. "And well, it's not just about the AI anyway. There's also the dirtbag professor. As far as I'm concerned, taking this guy in so we can put him in jail where he belongs is just as important as getting a hold of Charlie."

"I certainly won't object to that...Sir." The young woman growled. "But isn't that one and the same, really? If Lieutenant Shepard finds that piece of trash the AI ought to be there as well...No?"

"Not necessarily." Joker disagreed with a wolfish grin. "Lien didn't make it sound as if Charlie liked the the good professor very much. Who knows, he might very well dump him at some point."

"How would that even work? Super advanced AI or not, this Charlie is still trapped in a metal box."

"No idea, to be honest." The old Admiral smiled. "But should he find a way, well, then that Cordalis fella is well and truly fucked, if you pardon the expression." The young woman couldn't help but giggle softly. "At least I doubt that some stuffy theorist would do very well on his own in the Terminus. Should be relatively easy to find. If he doesn't get his ass killed that is."

"Probably not, but I still think..."

"Uh-uh." Joker floated over with his chair and shook his head. "That'd be quite enough claptrap for now, Lieutenant." He said, waving around a finger in front of her face. "Tell the techs to put the power back on. Lest people in here are going to get used to lounging about even more than usual. Back to work."

Harleen immediately rose out of her chair. "Aye, sir." She saluted and purposefully headed for the door. "Uh, sir? Do you really think these blackouts are doing any good? I mean..."

"I have no idea, Lieutenant." Joker snickered merrily. "It might, it might not. Off you go."

As the young woman sat down at her desk and called the tech in charge she wondered if the old Admiral was just doing this to spite the personnel in the building. She certainly wouldn't put it past him. She witnessed him playing practical jokes on people before. To keep people on their toes, to prevent people from settling into their daily routine too much. Or at least so he would usually claim when she asked about it. She suspected that he sometimes just felt like pulling people's chains. She thought about it some more, didn't get anywhere and went back to work with a shrug.

* * *

"Have a good one, doc." Ashley said as she brushed a kiss on Alex' cheek. "You take care of ma big sis, alright?"

"I'll do the best I can." The scientist was a little twitchy, the smaller maiden noticed as he kissed her back. He also looked a bit more bulky, wearing light armour underneath his clothing. "Don't really think she needs much caring for though." He glanced across the room where Cyra was just strapping on a medium sized backpack. She'd already said all her goodbyes and was now itching to get the show on the road.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't be so sure about that." Ashley said as she eyeballed her eldest sister. "She's not as tough as she thinks she is."

"Well thanks for pointing that out now." Alex made a face. "I was, you know, hoping for something to bolster my confidence now that we're about to embark on a journey into the jaws of madness but...Guess not."

"Oy, someone is being a wee bit dramatic, eh doc?" The maiden couldn't help but giggle. "But anyway, you needn't worry about your well being...too much." She added impishly. "If it comes down to a fight, ma big sis will kick ass. Always has." Ashley got a bit more serious as she cast her sibling another glance. "But on the _inside_ her shell isn't nearly as hard. There is a gooey centre in there somewhere."

"I know."

"Good, then we understand one another." The young Asari smiled. "Oh yeah, and try to keep her out of trouble. I know, I know..." She chuckled with a glee that seemed a bit inappropriate to the scientist for some reason. "I might as well ask you to start herding cats but hey. Gotta give it your best shot anyway, no?"

"_You_ got to work on your motivational speaking, young lady." The scientist shook his head, apparently only increasing the maiden's amusement.

"I'm quite a bit older than you are, doc." The maiden pointed out grinning but then she suddenly got actually serious. "Take care alright? Of yourself _and _Cyra. It...it would be a real shame..." She had to pause and start again. "You know, mum and dad said they were looking forward to meeting you and it would be a real shame if...if I had to explain..."

"As I said I'll do the best I can." Alex forced a smile onto his face as he was now unexpectedly having to do the reassuring. "And bad weeds grow tall, as they say."

"I sure hope so." Ashley's smile came back, albeit a little weaker than before.

"Did your parents really say that?" The scientist probed. _'As if I didn't have other problems right now.' _He thought. Still, he kind of wanted to know.

"As a matter of fact, they did." Ashley replied. "They..."

"Ready?" Cyra walked over. The tall, athletic Asari looked awfully impatient. She'd said her goodbyes, sorted out a few minor hiccups with her gear and now she just wanted to get out of here. "We should really get going."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Alex hastily shouldered his own pack and went through a mental checklist yet again.

"Got everything?"

"Well, let's see." Since his girlfriend was asking, the scientist figured he might as well go through the list out loud. He tapped on his chest, feeling the hard plate of his armour underneath the fabric of his regular clothing. The rest of the room listening he went through every item, from his armour to spare outfits, to a Thermos flask, a couple of chocolate bars, to a datapad that contained the contact information of some of his friends and acquaintances as well as entertainment for any downtime. There was still some room in the pack. After all there was going to be some more stuff to pick up once they got to the docks. Some standard rations, his pistol, spare energy cells and the like.

"Right." Cyra seemed to be satisfied. At least she didn't object or anything. "Let's get going then, shall we?"

"Okay." Alex would have liked to put an arm around her as they headed for the door side by side but her pack was in the way. He swallowed hard as they walked down the stairs from the apartment, Ashley, Rose and Lien following them down to give them a send-off. He had to admit he'd miss the luxury and comfortable life. A part of him, a very small part, just wanted to turn around and forget about it all. Another part of him was excited about embarking on an adventure. But for the most part the scientist just felt a bit lost, having only a nebulous idea as to how things were going to go.

"See you around, girls." Cyra said as they stepped onto the presidium grounds. "Try not to burn down the apartment while we're gone."

"Yeah yeah." Ashley shook her head. "Just bugger off, will ya? Oh, and don't get killed okay?"

"Don't worry, you're not going to get rid of us just yet." Cyra smiled, tipped her right temple with two fingers in a sort of mock salute, turned around and walked away with Alex at her side.

With mingled feelings the three females who stayed behind waited until they couldn't see Human and Asari any longer before they went back upstairs. "Well, that was that." Ashley sighed as the door clicked shut behind her.

"Yeah." Lien said softly. "What do we do now?"

Rose had a good yawn. It was early enough in the morning that the presidium's virtual sun hadn't risen yet. "How about some proper breakfast for starters?" The redhead suggested. "Don't know about you but I'm a little peckish."

"Uh, sure." Lien gave her fellow student a strange look. "But what about _after_?"

"Are you in a rush?" The ginger inquired as she headed for the kitchen. "Come on, there's no hurry is there?"

"I guess not." The dark haired Human made a face. "It's just...I was really hoping I could, you know go with them."

"Why..." Rose interrupted herself immediately and instead took the other girl by the arm, gently pulling her along. "Never mind. Come on, why don't you give me a hand in the kitchen. We can talk about everything while we eat."

* * *

"Hey there! Hold up you two!" Cyra and Alex were about to go through the security checkpoint at the gate to the alliance docks when they saw Rhea rushing towards them. She seemed to be a bit tired but still managed to look as smashing as usual. "Made it." She breathed as she reached them. "Sorry but I had a bit of a late night."

"Was wondering where you were." Cyra said somewhat absently. Her sister's sudden appearance had caught her in the middle of her mental preparations.

"Yeah anyway." The beautiful, young maiden looked a little guilty. "Just wanted to say bye, alright? Take care of yourselves." Rhea brushed a kiss on both of their cheeks and scurried away before Cyra or Alex could offer much in the way of a reply.

"Well, she's not one to make a scene, is she?" The scientist said amusedly.

"Nope. Unless she really wants something. Then...oh boy." Cyra muttered. "Anyway, come..."

"Howdy fellas!" The maiden frowned at the interruption but the scowl quickly faded when she saw Murphy walking over. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Murph." Cyra looked the pilot over. "You're in a good mood." She remarked wryly. She didn't have to make it a question. The pilot's state of mind was obvious enough, his grin looking like that of cat who'd just ate the neighbours favourite canary.

"Well, my day began quite well, I must say." Murphy smiled as the trio walked up to the checkpoint, oblivious of the scientist eyeballing him with one brow raised. "I was almost sad to have to leave." He stared into the distance with a glazed look on his face. "But no, It's good to get into space once again. If I'd hung around the citadel for much longer I'm afraid I'd go soft. What about you two? Ready to get it on?"

"Don't worry about us." Cyra replied. "Just tell me there aren't any further shenanigans with the ship. Everything alright. Pretty please?"

"Yep, did some final tests yesterday. Everything is a-okay." The fighter jock explained as they got through the security check one by one. Apparently the sentries had been notified beforehand, for none objected or made a fuss about a civilian getting access to the military docks. "And there she is. Ahh...isn't she a beaut?" Murphy said proudly as experimental gunship was lifted up by a crane. The small group watched in silence as the space craft was then shifted over and lowered into the hangar of a heavy frigate.

Cyra looked around the vast, artificial cavern, checked the time, and let her gaze wander about some more. "Where are my boys and girls?" She wondered aloud. "They ought to be here by now."

"Over there." Alex unwound a bit as they walked in the direction of the small group, the pilot pointed towards. The marines were by no means deep acquaintances of his but at least he wasn't in this with total strangers. He scientist tried to relax his shoulder muscles a bit. The straps of his pack dug into his flesh, making him a little uncomfortable. Inwardly he had to admit that he did agree with Lieutenant Murphy. Living on the citadel, especially the presidium, living in luxury and having nothing to do other than a little bit of paper pushing had made him go a bit soft. Despite the possible dangers that lay ahead...It was good to get on the road again.

* * *

"Come on." Rose put her fork down and eyed Lien not without a little annoyance. The archaeology student had barely touched the food on her plate, spiritlessly poking at it instead and that bothered the redhead. "I admit, I'm not as great a cook as Alex is but jeez! It can't be that bad."

"Huh?" Lien blinked in bewilderment, looking op from her fried egg on toast. "I'm sorry what was that?"

"What is the matter with you?" Rose made no effort to hide her frown. It seemed that Lien had build up a little mental wall around her since Hannah had gone back home a couple of days ago. While, as far as the ginger knew her anyway, Lien had never been a very outgoing person, Rose found that a little disconcerting. "Is it...?"

"You really wanted to accompany Cyra and Alex, hm?" Ashley stopped her Human girlfriend by putting a hand on her thigh and gently squeezing it. "Didn't you?"

Lien hemmed and hawed for a few moments before she finally spoke up. "Well, yes, I kind of did." She said with a hint of self irony. "Weird, I know." She shoved a spoonful of food in her mouth and chewed slowly. Being a fairly well-bred young lady, she didn't continue until she'd swallowed. It also gave her some more time to think. "I'd just would have liked to see Charlie again."

"That's _that_ important to you?" Rose found that quite weird. "That you'd be willing to go on a journey into the unknown just for that?" The redhead shook her head. "Must have been quite the talks you've had with Charlie."

The redhead hadn't meant anything by it but in Lien's ears that last sentence sounded suspiciously close to an accusation. "I don't know what you're trying to imply here." She smiled thinly. "But yes those were quite the talks."

"Oh really?" Rose's temper was rising because of the archaeology student's waspish response. "Like about what exactly if I may ask? Did you..."

"Hold on, hold on." Ashley felt compelled to step in before a serious quarrel could develop. "No one is implying anything, alright?" Knowing her girlfriend she could anticipate when a barbed remark was coming from this side reasonably well and gave her a poke under the table. "It just...well I guess it's just surprising to us that you would want to go through that much trouble just to get to see Charlie again. I mean, how come it's so important to you that you'd even consider to go near the Terminus?" Ashley shuddered briefly. She for one had no intention to go there again any time soon.

Lien sighed and deflated a little. "I want answers." She then said simply. "And on top of that I'd like to help to bring that asshole of a professor and see him thrown in jail." The archaeology student scowled. "So that I can steal the key and throw it into a black hole or something."

"You can do that here with us, too." Ashley pointed out. "And I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do more good that way, rather than skulking around the Terminus with my big sis."

"Like how?" The dark haired Human eyed the maiden suspiciously. "What have the two of you been doing in your room anyway?"

"Well..." Ashley grinned with a lusty, sidelong glance towards her girlfriend. "Apart from the obvious..." Rose smirked and rolled her eyes. "...We've been trying to figure out where the money for this...this whole charade was coming from." The archaeology student gave her a blank look. "It's kinda unlikely that a university professor has the means to pull all this off on his own, wouldn't you say?"

"Don't know." The student knitted her brow as she contemplated this. "Never thought about it, to be honest, but I guess you're right."

"So yeah, that's what we've been doing in our room."

"Had any success so far?" Lien wanted to know.

The young Asari made a face. "Not as much a we'd like." She admitted, the frustration clearly visible in her eyes. "So far all we really know is which merc company was hired and that the payment came from a bank on Illium. That's it." He puffed up her cheeks. "We could use some more help, that's for sure."

"Hmm, I'm not sure of how much help I can be." Lien absently rubbed her lower lip with her right index finger. "It's not like I know a whole lot about...banking, financial systems...you know?"

"Neither do we." Rose spoke up, having cooled off considerably. "But we can still give it a shot, can't we? I mean you _have _a degree in computer sciences, right?"

"A minor degree." Still kneading her lip with one hand, Lien made a dismissive gesture with her other. "But yes. I suppose it couldn't hurt to give it a try." The dark haired girl's hand wandered upwards, now rubbing the bridge of her nose as she let her brain process the idea some more. "What about that bitch Halsey?"

"Who?" The redhead blurted out with a frown. She'd heard that name before but couldn't immediately associate it with a person. "Who's that again?"

Lien's scowled openly as she gave the other girls a quick refresher as to who Halsey was. Although there was really nothing funny about it, Ashley had to hide a smirk behind her hand. For some reason she found the Human's anger to be kind of cute. "Anyway..." Lien finished without catching the maiden's amusement. "...I hear she's now placed under house arrest somewhere on the citadel. Living much more comfortable than she deserves, I'm sure. Bah!" She spat venomously. "The snake ought to be thrown into the deepest, darkest hole. Uhh...anyway..." The archaeology student blushed and interrupted herself as she simmered down. Her brief emotional outburst left her feeling awkward. "You think your..err...uncle Admiral could get us access to that harpy? Maybe she knows something."

"Could be..." Ashley's voice died off as she thought about it. "I can ask him. Good idea anyway." She exhaled noisily. She was clearly not happy about the thought though. "Gee...Do I really have to bother uncle Joker again?"

"What about Angela's mum?" Rose suggested after a few moments of silence. "She might be able to provide access as well. I mean a high ranking diplomat...?"

"Hmm...yeah." Ashley dug her teeth into her lower lip. "Yeah, why not?" She said and jumped off her chair. "I'll call Mike and invite them over for dinner or something."

"Right." The redhead hesitated. "And who's gonna cook?"

"I said: or something."

* * *

Harleen stood up as the Admiral came floating through the door. Judging by the look on his face he hadn't enjoyed the last couple of hours very much. "Welcome back, Sir." She said cautiously. As much as she normally liked the old man, if he was really angry you better kept your distance and hoped that he didn't notice you. Thankfully that kind of thing didn't happen very often.

Joker just replied with an unwilling grunt. Well, her boss didn't seem to be badly pissed off at least, Harleen figured. Or else she would have gotten a snapped one-liner as a response.

"How was the conference, Admiral?" She probed, getting a little more bold.

Joker threw his aide a significant look. "How was the conference?" He echoed, being obviously a little miffed because he'd been torn away from his desk for a meeting about...Harleen frowned. What had it actually been about again? For some reason she had no recollection about it. "Oh it was just marvellous." Joker growled. "Bloody waste of time an' all." He exhaled with an explosive 'bah' "Listening to a truckload of meaningless drivel. Really fine way to spend a couple of hours. As if I had nothing else to do."

Without being asked to, Harleen followed her boss into his office. "What is it?" Joker asked as he noticed it.

"I thought you'd like to know that the ship with Shepard and her crew is supposed to depart..." The young Lieutenant checked the time. "...Right about now actually."

"Ah yes. I certainly do." The old war hero muttered under his breath. "Thank you, Harleen." The staff officer waited for a while as the Admiral stared out of the window in silence. When it became clear that her superior had forgotten about her she briefly wondered whether she should speak up. There were a couple more things she'd wanted to bring to his attention. Eventually she decided to just leave him in peace for now and tiptoed out of the room as quietly as she could.

Joker continued to stare out the window, watching ships come and go in the distance. The traffic was too far away for him to recognize ship types or make out any detail but it didn't matter. One of these lights, speeding away from the massive space station was the ship that carried his old friend's daughter and her people on a mission into the unknown. He just hope he hadn't made a huge mistake.

* * *

"You want me to ask my mum what?" A fork full of pasta already half way to her mouth, Angela froze momentarily then put it back down. Her eyes darted from Ashley to Rose to Lien and back again. Up to this point it had been a very pleasant evening and the med student sort of hoped she'd heard wrong.

"Err...well..." Ashley stumbled, exchanging an uneasy glance with her girlfriend before she repeated her request. She had only a very vague idea as to what was going on in the relationship between Angela and her mother. Apparently it was much worse than she'd thought. "We wondered if your mum could get us access to doctor Halsey. She's..."

"So I did hear you right." Angela sighed.

Ashley hastened to add a bit more context to the request. In fact she got carried a way a bit too much during her explanations and revealed a couple of things she later figured she shouldn't have.

"Okay, I can see why you'd want to have a chat with this Halsey woman." The brown skinned med student looked awfully unhappy as she brushed a lock of her long, black hair out of her face. "But my mum..." She shook her head. "This is a mistake. You don't want to owe my mother any favours if you can possibly help it. She's not one to forget about what she's owed." The pretty young woman couldn't help but scowl. "I mean, the bitch..." Angela interrupted herself, afraid she'd go on a rant otherwise. Due to her parentage she'd never had very many amities. It was kind of hard to make friends when most people you came across were afraid of your mother. She certainly didn't have a lot at present and she didn't want to risk putting some of them off by spouting profanity about her mum. "What about your parents?" She asked in a weak attempt to steer the conversation in different direction. "Or this infamous uncle of yours?"

"Oy,_ infamous_?" Ashley giggled. "Infamous huh?"

"Err..." Angela's complexion darkened a tiny bit. "Well, from what I hear, quite a few people in high places seem to think so. Not that that should mean anything to him. I mean...no offence."

"Oh don't worry about it." Ashley laughed merrily. "He'd almost certainly consider that as something to be proud of."

"Is that right?"

"Yep."

"Sounds like a nice guy." Angela muttered under her breath and meant it. Even though galactic affairs had never been of particular interest to her, she'd witnessed enough dubious things going on in the upper echelons to know that she didn't want anything to do with the galaxy's 'elite'.

"He is." Ashley's smile faded a little as she got back on topic. "But he's got enough on his plate as it is and I'd rather not bother him with this." The maiden took a breath. "As for my parents...They make it a point not to get involved in citadel business anymore. Or any kind of politics for that matter."

"I can certainly sympathize." Angela made a face and leaned back. Beside her Mike wondered whether he should say something. So far he'd remained silent. He'd always thought it best to steer clear of anything related to his girlfriend's mother. He reached over and gently caressed her thigh. Grateful for the moral support the med student took his hand as she thought about the young Asari's request more thoroughly. God, did she hate the idea of having to ask her mom for this. Or anything else for that matter. However this _was _the business that had almost gotten Mike killed. If she had a chance to get some payback for that, even it was only by proxy, she wasn't going to forgo that, was she?

"Alright, fine." She sighed again. "I'm going to give it a go. Just don't expect me to...Just don't expect too much okay?"

"Of course." Ashley hastily asserted. "I'm certainly not asking to sell your soul, or mine, because of this. If you feel the price would be too high, then just forget about it."

"Right." Angela took a sip of her drink and let the liquid flow from one side of her mouth to the other several times as if to try and get rid of a bad taste.

"Thanks, Angie." The maiden beamed. "I owe you one."

"Wait until I actually get results with the acknowledgement." Angela replied with an uneasy smile. "Anyhow you don't owe me anything. We're friends are we not?" She said as she picked her fork back up and scooped the pasta in her mouth at last.

"I'd certainly think so."

The med student's smile got considerably warmer. "You know, this Carbonara is actually really good."

* * *

"So, here we are." Cyra said, having to speak up so that the members of the small group could hear her over the noise of the departing alliance vessel.

"Aye." Johanson looked around. Just like the rest of the squad, the huge Human looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Got to admit, I was kinda hoping for something a little more grandiose, if you know what I mean, S...Boss."

"Well we're not here for the glitter and glamour, are we?" Cyra replied with a chuckle, although inwardly she wholeheartedly agreed with the newly promoted Chief. The bland cargo dock, the marines found themselves in, was absolutely not what one commonly associated with this world. If she hadn't perceived the colourful lights of the city somewhere in the distance she might have thought they'd been dropped off on the wrong planet. "I suppose even Illium needs some kind of supporting structure underneath of all the spectacle."

"I guess." Kelly grimaced, absently watching a multi-racial crew of dockworkers going about their business. "I certainly wouldn't have minded if the navy had dropped us off a we bit closer to all the fun." An impish smirk appeared on the Amazon's face. "I don't suppose we have the time for a trip to the strip, do we?"

"Not really." Cyra snickered as she checked the time. "We better go find that bar that..." The maiden wrinkled her nose as the threw her boyfriend a quizzical look. "...how did you put it again? 'Wretched hive of scum and villainy'?"

"Yep, that's right." Alex beamed at his girlfriend. The young Asari had wondered what the archaeologist found so funny about this description since he'd uttered those words the first time but she'd never gotten a satisfying answer.

"Right, anyway, let's see if that freighter captain is reliable, shall we?" She said, making a mental note to ask again once they were underway.

"According to my old man he is." Alex said superfluously. His parents had recommended a whole slew of freelance freighter jockeys and him and Cyra had gone over each and everyone of them in detail before.

"Yeah well." The maiden smiled. "Then let's go and see if he's punctual too."

* * *

Angela allowed herself to breathe normally again as the door to her mother's study clicked shut behind her. Well, that had gone better than expected. Much better. Her mum had agreed to see what she could do about getting her friends access to the academic, held somewhere on the citadel, pretty much immediately. In fact it had been so easy that the med student got suspicious. Was the old crone up to something?

The sound of the main door opening and closing momentarily interrupted her musings and her mood immediately plummeted when she saw her step-father. Couldn't that asshole have waited just a few minutes longer before coming home? "Hello, George." She uttered through clenched teeth as she hurried past him, only wanting to get out of here as quickly as she possibly could.

"Hey there, pumpkin." The middle aged man said with that smug, impudent smirk Angela hated with a fiery passion. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Yes, I had such longing to see his place again for some reason." The young woman growled as she stormed out of the apartment. "Don't know what's wrong. Maybe it's time for a lobotomy or something." She added just before she slammed the door shut behind her.

The investment banker snickered. So his step-daughter hated him, didn't she. He could live with that just fine. In fact he found it quite amusing.

"George?" His wife asked, coming down the stairs to her study. That surprised the financier quite a bit. As this time of day Satya was usually firmly dug in behind her desk.

"Hm?"

"About this little...adventure of ours. You were careful financing it I hope?"

It took George a moment to realize what she meant. "Of course I was careful. I'm not an amateur." He frowned after the penny had dropped. "Besides I've told you all about it before..." Noticing the look on her face made him stop. "Why?"


	36. Chapter 36

"Not exactly a first class accommodation we have here, huh?" Goldstein remarked wryly as he put his pack down next to a folding cot.

"Yeah..." McClane sat down on the cot right next to his. "Well, it _is_ a cargo ship, not a luxury liner. Guess we can't expect much in the way of comfort, can we?"

"I didn't expect anything." The male marine scratched the back of his head. "I was merely stating the facts."

"Well no argument here." The blonde muttered as she rummaged through her

pack, eventually producing a datapad. "God knows why the captain is so bloody proud of this rust bucket."

Most, if not all of the marines had wondered about that. The squad found themselves in the ship's main cargo bay. The gunship, neatly wrapped in several layers of tarpaulin, was tied down in the middle of the cavernous space while the marines were lounging about at the side in groups of two or three. None had expected much in the way of creature comforts but that one working toilet was just about the ultimate feeling was a little disheartening. Especially since they didn't know how long they were going to have to travel with this ship.

"What about you, doc?" Goldstein turned to Alex. The Lieutenant and the scientist were down here with the rest of the squad, despite having been offered one of the sparse cabins of the ship.

"Hm?" Alex had just started to read a novel on his pad and hadn't paid attention to the conversation. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Care to lavish praise on our current abode?" The Corporal grinned with a sweeping gesture around the cargo bay.

"Not exactly prime real estate material, that's for sure." The scientist shrugged. "But I've slept in worse places."

"Really?" Both Goldstein's and McClane's eyebrows shot up. "Willingly or unwillingly?" The female marine inquired curiously.

"Now that, young lady, is none of your business." Alex gave the pretty blonde a conspiratorial grin.

"Okay, fair enough." McClane chuckled. "But you do realize that you now made me curious, right? I mean, a well-bred college boy like you? What kind of seedy places would someone like you find himself in?"

"Well-bred college boy." Alex shook his head, screwing up his face.

"Didn't mean that in a negative way, doctor." McClane giggled. "You know, just sayin'. Sort of."

"Oh come on." The scientist eyeballed the two marines, not without a healthy dose of disbelief visible on his face. "Don't tell me you've never slept on a park bench or something when you didn't make it back home after a night out on the town."

"Can't actually say I have." The pretty blonde smiled. "I mean, sure, there were times when I did partied a little too hard. But somehow I always found myself a more or less decent bed to sleep in."

"Yeah, I bet you did." Goldstein chuckled.

"Nu-uh. Don't you jump to conclusions, buddy." McClane gave her fellow marine a firm smack on the shoulder. "For the most part it was far less salacious than you probably think."

"For the most part." Goldstein echoed. His smirk had something outrageous about it, the female marine thought.

"Yeah, yeah." She growled. "You guys and your hyperactive imagination. I mean honestly..."

Goldstein was smart enough not to make any more suggestive remarks. Not that he thought he had much of a chance with the beautiful marine but one could never know. Instead he took a pack of cards out of his pack and began to ask around for playfellows, reckoning it was best to spare himself the temptation to quip. It didn't take long to get a game together and for a few moments, Alex was tempted to join in. But then he thought better of it and went back to reading. By the looks of it the marines intended to gamble for cash and he didn't fancy losing money right now.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Glancing over the top edge of his datapad the scientist noticed a member of the crew, a somewhat grimy looking Human mechanic, addressing McClane. "Could you step aside please?" Alex rose a brow. As far as he remembered, Terminus freighter crews were usually not known for having good manners. He gave the mechanic another look as the man opened an access panel and started working on the systems inside. Then he went back to his novel. Then looked at the greasy Human again, his eyes narrowing.

"Something wrong?" Alex didn't react immediately as the female marine sat down next to him and she had to repeat the question.

"Dunno." The archaeologist mumbled with an absentminded expression, went back to eyeballing the tech, chewed on his lips, racked his brain. "That guy..." His voice died off and McClane had to give him a nudge to make him continue. "I've seen that guy before...But where?"

Alex drawled. "Where?" The scientist studied the greasy face for a few moments longer before he tried to focus on his book again. But he just couldn't. That he couldn't remember where he'd seen that face before bothered him too much. He kept throwing the occasional glance over until the mechanic closed the maintenance flap and toddled off.

Staring at the departing member of the freighter crew, the scientist barely noticed his Asari girlfriend walking over and sitting down next to him. He only snapped out of his trance when she brushed a kiss on his cheek.

"What did the captain say, si...I mean, boss?" Cyra grinned as McClane somewhat clumsily corrected herself.

"'Bout fifty hours to our first stop." She raised her voice so that the rest of the squad could hear her as well. "So we may as well make ourselves comfortable."

Nobody noticed but as soon as he heard the maiden's voice, the mechanic stopped as if he'd just hit a wall. As the inevitable quips from the marines were flung across the room the man briefly turned into a pillar of salt before running out of the room as fast as he possibly could.

* * *

"Ey, what the...?" The freighter captain demanded, taking his feet off his desk as his younger brother burst through the door of his personal cabin. "Can't you fucking knock before...?" He interrupted himself as he gave the other man a closer look. Even with all the grime, that tended to accumulate maintaining the ageing ship's systems, one he could see that his little brother's face was ashen. "Man, what happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost." His eyes darted to a dark spot around the mechanic's groin. "Did you piss yourself?"

"S...Sh...She's...here, Dave." The younger man managed to stammer. Further inquiries didn't yield any result other than further stammering. "She's here, she's here..." Dave had to get his butt out the chair and walk over to his brother to shake him to try and get anything coherent out of him.

"Jesus Christ, calm down, Paddy, will ya?" He said loudly, trying to get through the other man's obvious panic. "Who's here? Jane the ripper or what?" No improvement still. It took a not too gentle slap in the face for Patrick to finally snap out of his hysteria.

"She's here." He said one more time as Dave took a step back with an exasperated groan.

"Who? Come on, man spit it out already."

"The bitch..." Patrick's chest heaved. "The bitch that almost cut my throat back when...back when I was playing mercenary."

It took a moment for the older brother to digest that. "Are you sure?" He asked carefully, looking his sibling over.

"Of course I'm sure!" Patrick suddenly got loud. "I dream of that ever bloody night! Her voice...when she hissed in my ear..." He ran a trembling hand through his filthy, brown hair. "I'll never forget that voice." His shoulders sagged and he blankly stared at the floor at the ground in front of his feet "Sometimes I think I can still feel the blade at my throat." He pulled himself together and straightened himself. "Yes, I'm fucking sure!"

"Alright, alright." Deliberately slowly, Dave ambled away and sat back down behind his desk. He needed some time to think. "Now what?" He muttered more to himself than to his brother.

"What do you mean 'now what'?" The younger Human nonetheless demanded. "We need to get her off the ship! Her and the whole goddamn posse!"

The freighter captain slowly shook his head. Sure, to get rid of his latest clients as soon as possible had been his first idea as well but that wasn't really possible, was it? "No can do." Dave stated, evoking a flurry of protests.

"No can do?!" Patrick incredulously echoed, his voice increasing in pitch and volume considerably. "Why the fuck not!?" He started to splutter. "I mean...you know this Asari bitch is some kind of citadel lapdog?"

"Of course, I knew." Dave sat back in his chair. "That...whatever that ship is, they crammed into our cargo hold, is a bit of a giveaway, isn't it? It doesn't matter anyway. We've signed a contract and we can't get out of it just like that." He said with the snip of a finger.

"Contract!?" The mechanic almost shrieked. "Contract? Are you kidding me? You wanna get your throat cut because of a contract you dumb sh...?!"

"Hey! Enough already!" Dave pounded his fist on the desk. "You have any idea how important the reputation is for freelancers like us?" He shouted. "It took years to build up a repute for reliability good enough to get some decent jobs! And I'm not going to risk that by leave these guys back in the cargo hold behind on some remote space station with their pants around their ankles. I can fucking do without having to go back doing drug runs or something for some shady scumbag!"

"I can't believe this!" Patrick walked back and forth the small room in agitation. "You're just going to allow that Asari bitch to rampage through our ship? Are you..."

"No one is going to rampage through anything." The older brother made an effort to lower his voice a bit, trying to be reasonable. "At least the lady didn't seem like a whack job to me when I talked to her."

"Bah!" The mechanic spat waspishly. "You just wait until _you_ feel her knives on your throat."

"For fuck's sake would you knock it off!?" Dave shouted. "You were a fucking merc at the time! What the heck did you think was going to happen, huh?"

"Ah there we go. That's what it's all about isn't it?" Patrick roared angrily. "You're still miffed that I didn't wanna come and work for the big man before, huh?"

"Not it's not about that!" The older sibling jumped out of his chair. By now he was really getting pissed off. "It's about trying to keep the ship going, goddamnit! It's about..." Someone knocked on the door. "Not now!" Having lost his train of thought, Dave needed a moment to get going again but before he could the person outside the room knocked again. "Piss off, for god's sake!"

Nevertheless the door opened and a female Turian peeked inside. "Sorry, cap." She said. "But we're coming up to the mass relay and you want to be on the bridge for that, right?"

"Right. I'll be there in a minute." The captain took the interruption as an opportunity to get a grip on himself as the Turian retreated and closed the door with a curt: "Sure thing, boss." Patrick for his part, fell into a chair and buried his face in his hands.

"I can't. I just can't." The younger Human's voice trembled slightly. "I can't stay on the ship when _she's _around."

"Look, Paddy." Dave tapped his brother on the shoulder in what he hoped was a supportive manner. "We're going to briefly stop at Oasis to get some additional supplies. Why don't you get off the ship and take it easy for a couple of weeks? We ought to be able to keep the ship running on our own for a while and as soon as we got _them_ off the ship we'll come and pick you back up."

"Yeah sure. Good idea." The mechanic sighed gloomily. "And how do you know these guys aren't simply going to slice you up when you've taken them wherever they wanna go? Just so you can't tell anyone what they're up to?"

"Come on, don't meet trouble half way, would ya?" Dave was becoming exasperated. "This ain't the first time I've taken some special whatever troupe on board and that's not how it works. For one I have no idea what they're up to and even if I did I wouldn't go and yap about it. And again, the lady, at least, didn't strike me as the bloodthirsty type."

"And what if they just want to be on the safe side, huh?"

"Goddamnit man!" Dave exclaimed. "You're becoming a pain in the ass and I don't have time for it right now!" He headed for the door. "We reach Oasis in a couple of hours. Why don't you just go to your cabin and relax until then? Just keep out of sight until you can disembark and you're going to be fine. Just forget about this whole thing. We're going to be fine too."

"Yeah...forget..." Patrick whispered after his brother had left the cabin, heading for the bridge. "As if it were that simple." He'd been trying to forget about 'this whole thing' for months now. Without much success. The only thing that'd seemed to help at least temporarily so far was alcohol. A lot of alcohol. The young Human smiled thinly. Maybe taking it easy on Oasis for a couple weeks wasn't such a bad idea after all. He'd been there before, multiple times in fact. One thing this space station was never short of was booze.

* * *

"What is the matter with you?" His wife's voice, some irritation included, came through Master Chief Charlton's haziness. His head resting comfortably on a very soft pillow the marine was loathe to open his eyes so he didn't react and acted as if he hadn't heard anything. "Oh no, don't you give me that, mister. I know you're awake!"

Reluctantly the marine opened one eye and squinted at the dark haired woman, waiting for his eye lens to properly focus. The suspicion in Amélie's eyes was clear enough for him to raise his head. "Hm? What is it, darlin'?"

"You've been rolling and thrashing about all night." The pretty woman scowled very slightly. "And I'm all out of blanket." She added pointedly.

"Oh, sorry." Charlton said a bit lamely as he realized that he'd basically appropriated the bed spread in his sleep. Of course, since his wife slept in the nude he was a little slow to surrender the soft cover. "There you go."

"Thank you kindly." Amélie said wryly as she covered herself up, much to her husband's displeasure. For a while the couple lay beside one another without saying anything else, dwelling on their thoughts. Charlton grimaced as he checked the time. It was still fairly early in the morning but it wasn't really worth to try and go back to sleep.

"Had a nightmare?" Amélie eventually broke the silence.

"Nope."

"What's up then?" The ex-sniper wanted to know. "You're usually not one to fuss about in your sleep, Paul."

Charlton didn't answer right away and his wife's eyes narrowed a bit. "I don't really know." He sighed. "I just have to get used to...you know this..." He explained with a sweeping gesture around the room. "I guess I'm a little restless."

"Yeah, no kidding." Amélie growled. "I mean, you were even a bit absent-minded when were making love yesterday evening."

"Now _that_ is not true!" Paul protested vehemently. "It's just...I mean, you know...It's just..." He tried to find a way to explain the problem without upsetting her.

"It's about this new squad of yours isn't it?" Amélie speculated, not only because she knew her husband and former partner but also because she remembered how long it had taken her to let go. "You feel bad that they had to go on some kind of fubar mission on their own."

"No, I..." His wife's gaze became a bit more piercing as Charlton hemmed and hawed momentarily. "Goddamn it yes!" He exclaimed. It came out a bit more loudly than he'd intended. "Yes I do, alright? It's a godawful mess I can't really talk about even if I would actually understand what the hell is going on. I...hey, what are you smiling about?"

"Well, that was more lively than I've seen you in a while." Amélie snickered. "Even yesterday evening..."

"Come on, stop calling my virility into question, would you?" Paul said, found her buttocks underneath the blanket and gave it a good smack. Naturally his wife didn't stand for it and returned his affection in kind. The resulting struggle ended up with the couple rolling around on their bed with their limbs intertwined, laughing and giggling like teenager. "So yeah anyway." Charlton coughed after he'd managed to disentangle himself. "Yeah, I kinda do feel bad about those kids having to go off on their own."

"And?"

"Nothing 'and'." The sniper stated firmly. "That's it. Look, I'm just feeling a little restless right now but that'll pass soon enough."

"Okay." Amélie snuggled up to her husband. She knew from personal experience that it wasn't going to be quite as simple as that. It'd taken her quite a while to really accept that her team mates, her friends, were now risking their lives without her to watch over them with either her sniper rifle or some high powered binoculars.

For a while the couple remained silent, simply enjoying the togetherness they'd had to forgo for so long. Eventually, however, Amélie's curiosity got the better of her, so she started drilling her husband about his former buddies and this mysterious assignment. Thirst for knowledge was one thing she'd had to keep a lid on during her service but fortunately, as far as she was concerned, that wasn't an issue any longer. Paul was technically still an active marine, of course, but she figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

"So what's the deal with this dubious mission, anyway?"

"Come on, darlin'." Came the quite predictable answer. "You know perfectly well that I can't talk about stuff like that."

"Hey look, you don't have to...hmm...divulge anything sensitive." Amélie grinned mischievously. "Just throw me a little bone and I'm happy." The marine tried to take her mind off things by running his hand over her bare back but it didn't really work. "You know I'm going to keep poking until I get some kind of answer, right?"

"Seriously, how did you even get into the special forces?" Charlton wondered aloud. "You're way too curious for your own good."

"I suppressed certain urges, naturally. Just like I'm sure you did, pal." The dark haired woman giggled softly. "But don't you try and change the subject. That's not going to work with me."

"Oh fine." The sniper growled and gave up on trying to stall. He gave her a brief rundown of what he'd been up to before his new Lieutenant had sent him on his merry way, being vague enough to not reveal anything classified. At least he didn't think he did. He was aware that he was walking on thin ice. Luckily while his wife was very, very curious, she wasn't the talkative type. At least not when it came to spreading secrets around.

"Sounds like this Lieutenant is the reasonable kind." Amélie remarked. "That's at least refreshing. Does she know her stuff too?"

"Seemed to be quite competent, aye." Charlton blankly stared at the ceiling for a moment. "Not a whole lot of experience, going under cover though. Or at least, so I've been told anyway."

"And that's the rub, isn't it?"

"Yeah." There was a prolonged silence, Paul gently running his hand through Amélie's silken, black hair.

"Heard anything from the guys?" She eventually asked, referring to the members of their former black ops team. "What few are still alive." She snuggled up to him a little more tightly.

"I've actually met ol' Tom, not too long ago." Charlton said dryly.

"What?" Amélie took her head off her husband's shoulder and gave him an incredulous look. "Tom? He's alive? What? How?"

"No idea how he got out of this jam." The sniper said sombrely. "But it didn't happen without leaving a few nasty scars by the looks of it. Wasn't exactly a happy reunion." He explained.

"I see." The pretty woman's face fell a little. "Still it's a bloody miracle..." A loud wailing, coming from the next room interrupted her. "Speaking of miracles." Amélie sat up with a sigh. "Here we go." She leaned over and planted a kiss on Paul's forehead. "Welcome home." She grinned as she jumped of out of the bed, picked up her silken robe from a nearby chair and headed for the door. "You can consider yourself lucky she slept all through the night this time."

Charlton smiled as his gaze followed his wife as she walked out of the room. Oh yes, he _did_ consider himself lucky, he thought as he got himself out of bed and started to get dressed, thinking of all his former comrades that hadn't come back from a mission. Very lucky indeed.

* * *

"Another!" Paddy exclaimed, pushing the small glass on the counter away from him.

The Krogan bartender gave his Human customer a closer look, glancing through oddly shaped glasses. The hulking reptilian was often claiming to be one of the oldest of his kind and his eyesight had worsened more and more in the past few decades. Not that good eyesight was needed to determine the Human's state. That was obvious enough.

"I think you've had about enough, Human." The Krogan rumbled, his voice deep enough to disturb the liquid in various glasses on the bar. "If I were you I'd get some rest."

"N...Nah, dude." Patrick slurred, trying to get his eyes to focus properly. "It's way...way...too early...And...and the story is just...just getting good."

"And I'd like to hear it." A female Quarian seductively put her arm around Patrick's neck as she leaned over more closely. Contrary to the Krogan behind the bar she was of the youngest generation of her species and needed only a breathing mask instead of a full environment suit to survive. The Quarian took full advantage of that, wearing clothing that highlighted her feminine charms enough to distract her predominately male marks. "One more for our friend here, Chief." She smiled behind her semi transparent mask. "My treat."

The look on the bartender's face made it abundantly clear what he thought about the idea of having to listen to the drunken man's bullshit tale any longer. However he wasn't going to turn away a paying customer as long as he wasn't causing more serious trouble. A casual word of caution when someone was drinking too much was as far as he was willing to go.

He of course had his suspicions as to what the Quarian was up to. He'd seen her in is bar, putting on this kind of act often enough and from what he knew it usually didn't end well for the subject of her attention. Well, he thought as he poured the Human another drink, as long as she was only pulling this shit on tourists and not on one of his regulars he didn't really care. What she hoped to get from this particular drunk, however was beyond him. The Human didn't seem like the moneyed type to him and she couldn't possibly enjoy the cock-and-bull story he was telling, could she?

A couple of refills later the ancient Krogan handed over the post behind the bar to one of his employees, telling him to keep an eye on the odd couple. Not that it was really necessary. His staff had plenty of experience in dealing with drunkards. But it couldn't hurt to give them a little reminder every now and again. The hulking reptilian ambled over to the regulars' table. Members of all major species were gathered up there, all veteran spacers. Time to get the latest station scuttlebutt.

* * *

"Hey, boss, you got a minute?"

"Of course I've got a minute. Not like I got anything better to do." It wasn't that Charlie had anything against verbal communication. It worked well enough for the most part. However having to communicate with another AI in this manner made him feel a bit silly at times. If only that goddamn professor wasn't so stubborn. Didn't he realize that it didn't really make much of a difference whether he was plugged in or not at this point? "Why? What's up?"

"There's been a development you may find interesting." The Alejandro AI explained. "Check this out." Charlie didn't see anything remarkable on the scene the monitors showed after coming alive. It was just a square with a metal floor, probably on a space station, with a colourful assortment of individuals from multiple species loitering about.

"What am I supposed to see here?" The ancient sentience wanted to know, inwardly imprecating the limited resolution of the optical sensors he currently had to work with.

"Oh right, sorry, boss. Weak eyes, I forgot." Had he been Human, Charlie might have frowned at that. This particular creation of his was becoming a little too cheeky for his taste. It was kind of remarkable how differently the artificial intelligences were behaving despite having been created almost exactly equal. "You oughta see it better from this angle."

As the perspective changed, Charlie immediately saw what the other AI found so intriguing. "Interesting." He muttered as the camera zoomed in on a familiar Asari, strolling about with a certain Human at her side. "Where is that?"

Alejandro rattled down a set of coordinates. "That's quite deep in the terminus systems." He then added. "Now unless I don't understand the politics of this galaxy they shouldn't be there, should they?" The camera perspective changed again, now showing a small group of Humans. "At least not in the line of duty."

"No, they shouldn't indeed." Charlie replied. "What are they doing there? Are they after us?"

The other AI didn't answer right away. When he did, Alejandro sounded somewhat sheepish. "Umm...I'm actually not quite sure, boss."

"I'm not sure?" Charlie echoed incredulously. "What do you mean, I'm not sure? You've got pretty much all the hardware in the milky way at your disposal. How can you not know?"

"Hey, look, boss." Alejandro exculpated himself. "We can't be expected to know about everything going down, my homies and I. There's just too much happening at any given time to process, even for us. Now of course if you'd allow us to reproduce there would be enough of us to..."

"Is that an attempt at blackmail, young man?" The ancient AI inquired with dry humour. "Pfff...Young people. Artificial or otherwise, they always think about sex." One of the limitations the ancient AI had intentionally furnished his creations with was that they couldn't simply copy themselves. Few things could end in disaster as quickly as AIs multiplying out of control. So he'd divided his creation into two groups with one of each needed to reproduce and even that he'd restricted for the time being.

"I'm just saying, alright?" Alejandro sounded somewhat indignant. "If there were more of us we had a better chance to not miss any important stuff."

"That may be..."Charlie paused, getting more serious. "But no, that's not a good idea. At least not at this time."

"Okay." The young AI was obviously disappointed but dispensed with trying to argue. The old man was normally very hard to budge. "But anyway, I can't say for certain what our organic friend are up to. But considering you people's history, I think it's safe to assume that they're looking for us...Well no, for you really. If you want I'll keep a close eye on them from now on."

"That'd be probably a good idea." Charlie remarked dryly. "Keep me posted, please. And make sure one of you is on the ship they travel with at all times."

"Eh? What for?" Alejandro wanted to know.

"Just had an idea." The ancient AI said brusquely. "The young miss Shepard and the good doctor Gordon might very well by the help we need."

Further inquiries on the younger AI's part proved to be fruitless as Charlie was unwilling to spill the beans just yet. He wanted some more time to think on it before he shared the idea. Alejandro was about to give up poking and excuse himself when his creator unexpectedly spoke up.

"What about Lien?" He wanted to know. "I didn't see her on any of the monitor. She's not with them is she?"

"Nope, she's still on the Citadel with she other Shepards. Why?"

"Just curious."

* * *

As it turned out the old Krogan bartender's suspicions about the Quarian were entirely justified. Not too long after she'd left the bar with her Human 'friend' she was going through his things in a cheap hotel room. The young female frowned fiercely. What happened to her instincts? Normally she could spot a mark worth the trouble a mile away. This guy however had absolutely nothing of value with him. She cast a couple of derogatory glances at the loudly snoring Human as she paced back and forth the room, going through the wardrobe and a few drawers once again. Nothing, just fucking nothing!

"Well." She muttered sarcastically as the sat down on the bed beside the drunk, patting him on the thigh. "At least you know how to tell a story, pal."

The Quarian jumped off the bed and headed for the door. There was nothing for her to gain if she stayed any longer. She was almost out the room when her stride slowed suddenly. That bullshit story he'd told. About how he'd been a mercenary, guarding some sort of supremely advance artificial intelligence, almost getting his throat slit in the process. She heard space stories like this all the time. Maybe not quite as imaginative but still. But what if this one here had more than the usual grain of truth in it? Even in his obvious drunken haze, the Human had put an unusual amount of detail in his tale.

Spontaneously she turned around and started going through his things again. Only this time she wasn't looking for anything monetary. Instead she searched for anything that could tell her a bit more about the guy. Clues as to where he'd been. What he'd been doing. What ship he was travelling with. She didn't find a whole lot but enough to work with. Enough to at least find out if there _was _anything true to the drunken man's ramblings with some research. If there was the Quarian figured she just might be able to get something out of this little episode after all.

* * *

"Alright, miss." The Captain was nervous as he turned to her, Cyra noticed, just like the rest of the bridge crew. According to him, and several other members of the crew, this area was hot. The position they were now at was as close to their "We're precisely where you wanted. On your go ahead I'll have the upper cargo door opened."

"Thank you, Captain." The Asari maiden absently played with her light helmet.

"Just exactly how long do you expect this undertaking to take?" The Human absently rubbed his bearded chin.

"We're not a hundred percent certain what we're going to find." Cyra answered truthfully. "I hope to be back in twelve hours tops. Depending on the condition that place is in it could take up to a day though."

The freighter skipper obviously didn't like that at all. "Well, if I were you I'd make certain to get back here as quickly as possible, missy." He growled. "It's dangerous to sit around here for long and contract or not, I'm not going to risk my ship and my crew."

"Of course not, Captain." Cyra walked away, briefly stoppin at the bridge bulkhead. "That's only reasonable."

"You bloody well bet it is!" Dave hollered. "So if we're getting jumped by pirates or something while we wait, we're outta here!"

"Understood." The maiden merely replied and walked off the bridge. There was no point in arguing about it. The freighter jockey had said all that before, multiple times in fact, but for some reason had felt compelled to rehash it once more. I didn't matter anyway. There was nothing stopping them from using the gunship to get out of there, after all. Nothing other than the inconvenience of being cooped up in an awfully small passenger compartment for a couple of hours anyway.

The marines were already in the gunship when she reached the freighter's main cargo bay. Only Alex was still waiting for her, looking a little lost in his lightly armoured environment suit.

"Hey." He said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. By the looks of his he was, understandably, quite tense. "Are we...errr..." He got muddled and had to start again. "Can we get this show on the road, please?" He showed a sickly smile. "I'd like to get this over with."

Cyra would have liked to give her boyfriend a kiss for comfort but she wasn't going to ask him to take off his helmet and go through the whole sealing and checking procedure again just for that. "Alex, you know you don't have to come with us, right?" She was as good as certain that he wasn't going to take it but she gave him another way out without losing face anyway.

He seemed to actually consider the offer instead of brushing it away like he'd done one earlier occasions. But then he straightened up and shook his head firmly. "No, I'm going to go through with this even if I'm shitting in my pants."

Cyra chuckled as she put her own helmet on, have the suit perform a self test and waited patiently as her boyfriend walked around her to perform a visual check. "Well then." The maiden smiled after he gave her a thumbs-up. She put her arm around his waist as they walked to the gunship's open ramp. She was still on the fence about letting the scientist accompany them on a potentially dangerous sortie but despite any misgivings she had, it sure as hell felt good to have him around. "Let's get going then, shall we?"


	37. Chapter 37

"Approaching the target." Murphy's cool, businesslike statement, coming over the gunship's comm system, made everyone in the small passenger compartment perk up. Cyra opened her safety harness and went forward, struggling through the experimental craft's cramped interior. Well it was better than in a regular gunship, the maiden thought as she made her way to the cockpit. There was even a built in chemical toilet but no one had used that so far. Wearing an armoured environment suit made going to the loo a bit more complex than usual.

"How's it looking?"

"Not sure." The pilot mumbled absently, his eyes scanning the incoming data from the ship's sensors. "Very few emissions, no comms, infra red's very low." He threw the maiden a glance. "If I didn't know better I'd think it was just an asteroid, containing uranium or something."

"Well if I wanted to hide a space station that's what I'd try to make it look like to a random ship passing by."

"Sure, although I don't think there's a lot of ships loitering around this far from the usual trade routes."

"Guess not." Cyra shrugged indifferently as she looked over the pilot's shoulder and checked out the sensor data herself. "They shouldn't be able to spot us, right?"

"Bloody unlikely to." Murphy said. "Certainly not at this distance."

"Well then let's get a closer look, if you don't mind."

"Yes, ma'am." The pilot grinned as he engaged the engines and guided the ship towards the target, using only as much power as he absolutely needed to keep the energy signature down. "Hmm, still not reading much of anything." He muttered as he brought the spacecraft to a stop considerably closer to the target, holding his position relative to the space station. "That station is either _very_ well shielded or it's running on _very_ little power."

Without being prompted Murphy brought the ship a little closer and stopped again to check the sensors. A frown appeared on the fighter jock's face as he repeated this pattern several times.

"Still nothing?" Cyra couldn't resist to fire a little jibe toward her old friend, fully aware that it was not really the time for humour. "Are you sure we're in the right place, Murph?"

"Of course I'm sure!" He threw the maiden an insulted look, quickly going back to his job when he saw her grin. "Oh be quiet, Shep, I need to focus." He added with a smirk. "Not getting anything useful still. Time for a _really _close look."

Cyra became somewhat tense, peering out the cockpit window as the spacecraft shuddered very slightly. Not that there was anything special to see just yet. Just a myriad of stars to behold and for a moment the maiden forgot where she was, gazing into the vast space with wonder. She came back to her senses when some of the stars ahead suddenly seemed to vanish, blackened out by a rapidly growing black spot and before long Cyra could make out the silhouette of a space station.

"Weird." The maiden muttered her eyes narrowing. "How close are we now?"

"'Bout ten klicks." Murphy replied absently. "Why?"

"I don't know...Shouldn't we see at least some lights at this distance?" Cyra wondered aloud.

"Depends what kinda station we're looking at." The pilot mumbled, chewing on his lower lip. "But yeah, it is a bit strange." As the gunship slowly closed the distance one could finally see a shimmer coming from the darkened structure. "Who told you our friends were here again?" Murphy inquired, the ship now being close enough to the target that they could see some details with the naked eye.

"Nobody." Cyra said dryly. "But apparently this is supposed to be some kind of haven for crazy scientists."

"Cute." Murphy commented. "Looks kinda deserted to me though. Energy system are online but on a very low level. Barely enough for proper life support I reckon."

"It thought it was worth checking out, alright?" Cyra felt the need to defend herself. "Oh, what? You got something better to do, Murph?" He added when she noticed him making a face.

"Guess not." The pilot shrugged and had his ship orbit around the station, getting so close that Cyra at times thought they were going to bump into it. "Nobody in the ops centre either." The gunship's nose almost touched the ops' windows, giving pilot and passenger a good view into the darkened room. "Nothing more we can find out from out here." He turned to the young Asari. "I'd say get your guys ready."

"Right." The maiden turned around and squeezed herself through the narrow corridor back to the passenger compartment. Having to sit around idly for quite a while had made the marines jumpy, she immediately noticed when she ordered them to get ready. Alex on his part was screwing up his nose as Cyra walked over. "You alright?" She asked softly.

"More or less." He made a face, tapping on his helmet's transparent visor. "Can't to anything about my itching nose and it's driving me crazy." The maiden couldn't help but giggle at that, mostly because she remembered herself being in a similar plight on multiple occasions. Murphy's 'one minute' call over the intercom, however, quickly got her head back to reality. She quickly checked her sub-machine gun one more time.

"_Clear of the ramp. Thirty seconds."_

Cyra gently put her hand on Alex' when he prepared to draw his pistol. "You just take it easy with that, okay?" She gave his hand a little squeeze for comfort.

"This really isn't my world." The scientist sighed.

"Well, coming along was your idea, remember?" The maiden pointed out impishly, unable to resist teasing her boyfriend just a little bit.

"I know, I know." Alex muttered. "I must have been out of my mind."

Cyra smiled, turned around and gave her marines a few terse commands as the gunship's wheels touched the docking bay's floor, the ramp opening shortly after. Once everybody was out and clear of the spacecraft's engines, Murphy immediately took off and guided the gunship back out of the bay.

Without access to the structure's blueprints, the computer consoles in the docking bay not working, it took the marines a couple of minutes to find the airlock to the station interior. There also were a couple of shuttles scattered about the vast, artificial cave and Cyra had her marines check them out before proceeding. By the looks of it most of them had been here for a while and may of them were barely spaceworthy.

Alex shifted uncomfortably as the small group entered the small chamber, leading to the station interior. They had to go in groups of two because it was too small for more. The blue emergency power lighting gave the huge, metal hall quite an eerie look. "Man, this reminds me of 'Alien'." The scientist muttered under his breath as he entered the airlock together with his girlfriend.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Alex said hastily. He flinched very slightly when the airlock hissed softly as the pressure increased to interior station level. "Just forget I said anything." Inwardly the archaeologist cursed his brain for making the connection to this particular old vid right now. It certainly didn't do his state of mind any good. The presence of the heavily armed marines helped a bit, sure, but his heart still seemed to skip a beat every time he heard an unexpected sound as the squad slowly and carefully made its way to the ops centre.

They met no one on the way, nor did any nasty space monster suddenly jump out of an air duct much to Alex' relief. The scientist did relax a bit when they reached the station's command and control room. It was just a dimly lit as the rest of the station but at least in the spacious room one could see the danger coming.

"Watanabe." Cyra beckoned the tech after a quick sweep of the room, making absolutely certain that nobody was hiding behind a console. "You're up." She gestured vaguely towards the array of computers. "See what you can do." Next she called Murphy for a status update.

"Nothing's happening out here." Came the somewhat bored sounding answer. The gunship appeared outside the window, close enough so that the marines could see the pilot in his cockpit, giving them an ironic salute. "Nothing at all. As soon as that changes you'll be the first to know, Shep. Don't you worry."

It took the tech a good ten minutes to get anywhere with the station's systems, the rest of the squad restlessly fidgeting about on their positions. Everybody squinted as the room's regular lighting suddenly came online, dazzled by the sudden brightness. Cyra walked over to the tech. "Good work, private." She gave him an appreciative pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you, sir." Kenji smiled absently as he tried to get his bearings in the unfamiliar system, looking for a base layout of some kind. "Oh hello..." He mumbled as he went through the different function, eventually finding the station site map. "Look at this."

"What's up?" Cyra didn't immediately spot what the Private meant.

Kenji had the map twist and turn a bit as he tried to make his discovery more apparent to his platoon leader. "Here." He highlighted a section of the map. "See, that LT?" Power levels are minimal everywhere, except there." He pointed at two different spots on the holographic projection. "And there."

"Hmm...yeah." The maiden drawled. "Any idea what's there?"

"Not sure..." Kenji fiddled around with the controls. "They seem to be some sort of labs but I can't really tell what kind."

"Any cameras in those areas?" Cyra inquired. "Any other useful sensor reading and the like?"

"None I can find." The Private's face was a mask of concentration as he engrossed his mind into the system more and more. "Looks like the internal sensor grid was mostly disabled a long time ago. I guess people like their privacy around here."

"So it would seem." The young Asari smirked, vaguely aware that Alex was curiously looking over her shoulder. "Any chance you can get it up and running again?"

"Unlikely." Kenji muttered. "By the looks of it most of the hardware has been removed entirely."

"Of course." Cyra growled sarcastically. "Would have been disappointed if it were that easy." Some soft chuckles answered the maiden as she straightened herself. "Just see what you can to, Private."

"Aye, aye."

The maiden quickly downloaded the station layout to her suit computer and sent it to everybody around. She briefly pondered whether she should keep the squad together or split it up to check out these two labs. She quickly came to the conclusion that splitting the squad up wasn't a good idea at this point. Not that the two laboratories were far apart but as long as they had a better idea as to what the deal with the station was, they'd be better off staying grouped up. She was going to leave the tech and another marine behind to keep working one the station systems though.

She waited a few more minutes to see if Kenji was going to get some additional insights out of the system. Then she spun around, got the squad gather up around her and gave the necessary orders. McClane didn't look all too happy, having to stay behind with the tech but a sighed 'aye, sir' from the more junior member of the squad later the other six people got moving. They didn't get down to the supposed lab as quickly as Cyra would have liked. The squad had to stop several times to check out creaking and other weird noises, never finding the source. For a lack of an other explanation the maiden eventually attributed the sounds to metal fatigue, malfunctioning systems and other consequences of the station's age. She did remind everybody to stay alert though. Just in case.

If any of the marines had hoped for some action once they go to the lab they were thoroughly disappointed. Not a living soul in sight still. To her surprise the computer consoles around weren't locked or otherwise protected. Not that it made much of a difference as far as Cyra was concerned. The scientific data stored in the system was completely over her head. "Can you make any sense of this?" The maiden shot a glance at Alex, who was looking at the screen over her shoulder.

"Lemme see." The archaeologist looked around briefly then pulled up a chair and sat down beside his girlfriend. Several minutes went by in total silence as Alex delved into the data. "Hmm..." He eventually mumbled. "Looks like data on some sort of genetic experiment."

"Genetics experiment?" Cyra echoed. "What kind?"

"Can't really tell." The scientist said apologetically. "This isn't exactly my field of expertise, darling."

Soft chuckling answered Alex' last sentence and Cyra threw glances left and right, not without a little bit of irritation visible in her face. Some of her marines seemed to find their CO being called darling quite funny for some reason. "Alright, alright enough with the lollygagging." The maiden growled. "Johanson, take Goldstein and Guzzman and check the other lab. Time to earn your pay for a change."

"Yes darl...I mean boss." Kelly smirked.

"Oh shush and get moving." The maiden shook her head suppressing a grin. "And don't take any unnecessary risk. If you feel something's fishy you call in and wait for the rest of us."

"Aye aye."

Cyra briefly watched the three marines toddle off before she started looking around the room a little more thoroughly, opening drawers and cupboards, hoping to find some more clues as to what the deal was with this station.

Kelly reported in a couple of minutes later just as the young Asari was looking for something interesting under a lab counter.

"Trouble?" Cyra immediately drew herself upright, her right hand involuntarily reaching for her sub-machine gun.

"We're not in immediate danger, if that's what you mean." Came the answer. The maiden frowned. Was she just imagining it or did Johanson sound a little shaken? "But you better come over here and see for yourself."

"Okay." The maiden frowned. "We'll be there in a minute." She walked over to her boyfriend. "Find anything more?"

"Nothing I can make sense of." Alex made a face. "The system is a mess. I mean, some of the...hmmm...essays...read like drivel written by a madman and the rest...well I'm a humble archaeologist, not some kind of all knowing genius."

Cyra snickered softly. If they hadn't been wearing environment suits she would have been tempted to kiss him but alas she had to settle for giving him an affectionate hug after he gotten out of the chair. "Let's move." With a hand signal she told Petrov to cover the rear as they left for the other lab.

"Jesus." Alex muttered behind her as the small group stepped through the other lab's door. Although she said nothing right away the young Asari inwardly agreed as the reason for Johanson's call became apparent.

"What the heck happened in here?" Cyra eventually asked, staring at the gruesome scene.

"Well someone obviously didn't like that fella." Guzzman replied absently as she continued to examine the body, lying on the ground.

"No kidding." The maiden remarked. The corpse on the ground before her feet had pretty much been shot to pieces. Mutilated to a degree that Cyra wasn't even completely certain what species this unfortunate had been.

"He's Human." The medic stated when her Lieutenant asked. "He's been dead for three, four hours give or take."

Upon hearing that the maiden immediately readied her SMG. "So whoever did this could still be around."

"If they are, they're nowhere nearby." Goldstein said from his position at one of the room's two entrances. "We checked."

Cyra called her people in the ops centre and asked if they'd noticed any movement from their position, telling them to be on their guard when they answered in the negative. "Why on earth would someone shoot this guy up like that?" The maiden then muttered as she knelt down besides the corpse. They weren't here for that, of course, but the she couldn't help but wonder. She'd seen more than her fair share of carnage during her time in the alliance but never something quite as drastic as this.

"Could have something to do with this." Johanson opened the door of a large refrigerator and pointed inside. "I guess they wanted to be absolutely certain that the guy was dead."

"Baaah..." Alex let out a disgusted sound as he peered inside, quickly turning around with a clearly visible shudder. The fridge, as it turned out when Cyra took a look, was filled with all kinds of body parts stored in glass cylinders. Mostly Human as far as the maiden could tell. Arms, legs, some internal organs and even a severed head.

"What the...?"

"It would seem that someone has been harvesting parts from the people on this station." Guzzman spoke up. "If I had to guess I'd say it was this fella over there on the floor and his latest intended victim didn't take kindly to that."

"Could be..." The maiden muttered. "But why?" She stared at the morbid scene in the freezer. Defective organs could be relatively easily cloned these days. There was really no need for something like this any longer.

"Maybe the guy was just crazy." The medic shrugged. "Supposedly the terminus systems are awash with mad scientists and the like."

"Thanks a lot." Alex growled. Guzzman was probably not entirely serious, sure, but the archaeologist felt compelled to protest anyway.

"Present company excepted of course, doctor." The medic grinned.

"Yeah sure." The scientist sat down at the room's main computer console and switched it on. He just wanted something to do to distract him from various unsettling sights in the room, one of which being the marines putting what had once been a Human in a body bag. He frowned as the holographic screen came online. This particular local system seemed to be really badly organized in Alex's eyes. The files seemed to be named and thrown into folders with no rhyme or reason to it. _'It's almost as if a crazy person would have done that.' _He began randomly open files as he heard the body bag's zipper closing out the morbid procedure behind him.

"Alright." Cyra spoke up after they'd stuffed the body into the fridge with some difficulty. The maiden didn't quite know what else to do with the carcass but she didn't want it to keep lying around and she certainly wasn't going have her marines take it with them. "Let's check the rest of the station so we can get out of here..."

"Wait a moment." Every head in the room other than his own turned to Alex, the marines wondering what was the matter. "Look at this!" The scientist pointed at the video file, paying on the holoscreen. "Looks like someone was spying on the other occupants of the station." He added as Cyra walked over and peered over his shoulder. "See someone you know?"

"Damn right I do." The young Asari's lips split into a grim smile as she saw a nice, high-rez image of professor Cordalis, sitting on a bed with a data pad in his hand and Charlie's mobile unit on the night stand beside him. According to the time stamp the recording was less than twenty-four hours old. She quickly got things organized. "Goldstein, Johanson up front. Petrow, Guzzman cover the rear. Let's go! With any luck they're still around." As they began to move, Cyra making certain that Alex was behind her at all times, the maiden called the marines in the ops centre, telling Watanabe to download as much as he could before hooking up with rest of the team. Almost as an afterthought she told them to be careful.

* * *

"What was that?" McClane hissed as she cautiously peeked around a corner. The female marine had been on edge pretty much from the moment the squad had set foot on this station. Thanks to the narrow corridors and dim emergency lighting. She didn't suffer from claustrophobia or anything. At least the pretty blonde didn't think so. She'd just never liked small, enclosed spaces. Especially badly lit ones. Damn. If only the Lieutenant had picked someone else to stay behind with the tech. At least the relative safety of the group would have given her some comfort.

"What is it?" Bedside her, Kenji tiptoed up to the corner ahead and cautiously peeked into the next corridor.

"Don't know." Jane breathed, clenching her sub-machine gun. "Thought I heard something. Sounded like a wrench, dropping down on the floor."

"Can't see anything." The tech whispered superfluously. The female marine was right beside him, peering down the same hallway. The two of them waited for a few moments, wondering if something was going to happen. Nothing did.

"Ah forget it." McClane whispered eventually. She just wanted to get back to the squad and preferably off this abominable station as quickly as possible. "I'm probably just imagining things."

"Well, let's be cautious anyway." Kenji suggested under his breath.

"Good idea." Jane muttered, grateful that the tech led on without being prompted. Not that he was an old stager himself but he certainly had more combat experience than she did. He knew what he was doing. Right? Well, whatever the case, at least she wasn't completely alone. _'Goddamnit!_ She thought, aware that her pulse was quite a bit elevated. _'What the heck am I even doing here? I could have been a bloody model. With a little luck I could even be rich right now. But noooo. That was too run-of-the-mill for daddy's girl, wasn't it? How much of a fool does one have to be to be taken in by those damn recruiters anyway?' _

Busy with her thoughts McClane was a little slow to react when Kenji put his hand up and stopped. She also was a little too late, realizing that shit was about to hit the fan.

* * *

"You heard 'em. Pick up the pace!" Cyra snapped as she got the call from her marines. Not too long ago the maiden had been ready to write this undertaking off as a complete waste of time but now things were getting all too interesting all too quickly. Not needing any more encouragement Goldstein clicked the safety off his SMG and led the squad through the narrow corridors as quickly as he could without being reckless. It wasn't long before they heard the chattering of automatic weapons reverberate though the narrow hallways.

McClane blindly fired her sub-machine gun in the vague direction of whoever was shooting at them as she scurried away and into the nearest available cover. As she checked her gun, hands slightly trembling, some small part of her promised that she was never going to complain about small spaces ever again if she made it out of here. A little bit of discomfort...shit...this was pure terror. Where the hell was Watanabe? She couldn't see him anywhere as she hectically looked around. What the hell was she doing here? What on earth was she supposed to do?

Something hit the bulkhead next to her and fell to the floor with a metallic clatter. "Shit!" The blonde marine was barely able to jump away and hug the ground before the hand grenade went off. She could feel the heat, washing over her through her suit, the shock wave knocking the wind out of her as her suit's barriers deflected a handful of fragments away. McClane drew a shaky breath, the chatter of the bad guys' guns coming closer. By the sound of it they were almost at the corner ahead. The young woman was close to a panic as she groped about, looking for her gun.

'_Where is it, where is it?' _Her mind seemed to go blank as she saw another grenade bounce off the wall. Just before it fell down at her feet a hand snatched it out of the air. Kenji stumbled, struggled, the metal cylinder almost falling out of his hands. Two more strides and a leap was all he had time for.

* * *

Cyra bit back a curse as she could feel the floor shudder for the second time, the bang of an explosion coming from around the corner. "Watanabe! McClane! You guys alright? Check in!" No answer.

In front of her Goldstein peeked into the next corridor. Pulled back, hesitated then took another look. "L..looks clear."

With a frown the maiden walked up to her point man and risked a peek herself. "Holy..." She muttered under her breath as the saw the reason for the Private's hesitation. The hallway was a bloody mess, the likes of which the young Asari had never seen before. The walls were painted red with blood. One body was slumped against the wall, suit torn open, missing a leg. Worse there was an assortment of parts lying about enough for two or three more dead.

"Goldstein, on me." She hissed as she took a breath, the gruesome sight generating a fair bit of nausea. "Johanson, secure this junction and start clearing those rooms."

"Oh my god..." She heard Alex cough behind her. Judging by the muttering he wasn't the only one who was just a little shocked. Getting closer and closer to the mess didn't do her stomach any good either, that was for sure. Trying to block the ghastly sight she cautiously made her way down the corridor until she could peer around the corner, weapon at the ready.

"McClane?" Staring through her gun's targeting optic, it took Cyra a split second to recognize the blonde Human. "Private are you okay?" No reaction. The maiden lowered her weapon and cautiously walked over, telling Goldstein to cover her. "McClane!"

"Huh?" It took physical contact for the female marine to snap out of her paralysis.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm not sure." McClane spoke awfully slowly, the shell-shocked expression speaking volumes. "I...I think so."

Cyra had heard enough. "Medic!" She shouted. "Guzzman get yourself over here!" The maiden looked around. "Where is Watanabe?" She had to repeat the question twice before the female marine reacted.

It seemed to take McClane a fair bit of effort to raise an arm and point at the carnage. "There."

A new wave of nausea rippled through the young Asari. "Shit." She would have like nothing better than to just sit down and forget about everything. Alas she couldn't. Cyra took a couple of deep breaths to try and soothe her rebelling stomach. Someone gently touched her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked. His face was pale but otherwise seemed to be able to bear the situation surprisingly well.

Cyra took her boyfriend's hand and gave it a good squeeze, grateful for the moral support. "Not really." She growled after a moment, her features hardening.

"Petric?" The mercenary leader almost shouted into the microphone. "Mikkelsen? Come in goddamnit!" He tried a few more times, waited for an answer and didn't get any. "Damned idiots. I fucking told them to avoid contact at all cost." He eventually snapped, turning to his second in command. "We're out of time. Tell the pilot to fire it up."

"But that...gunship...whatever it is...it's still out there." The other man objected.

"I know but we can't wait for those other guys to come knocking at our door, can we? We'll just have to hope that the professor can get some more use out of that bloody toy of his!"

"What the..." Murphy blurted out as his sensor readings suddenly exploded. "Where the heck did that come from?" He wondered aloud as the steered his ship around the station. There appeared to be a ship, latched onto a part of the massive, floating structure. Being powered down the computer just hadn't been able to tell it apart from the rest of the station until now. The pilot took a closer look then sent Shepard a quick, verbal SITREP.

"Where the heck did that come from?" Murphy couldn't help but grin as the Asari's reply came in. "Where is it?"

The fighter jockey gave the maiden as good a description as he possibly could. God was it inconvenient having to tell Shepard verbally where to go. It would have been so much quicker, easier and more accurate if he'd just been able to beam over the sensor data. Alas he couldn't. As a precaution the ship's wireless was completely disabled for the entirety of the mission, except of a voice communications module that had no connection to the main computer.

"Alright. We're on our way." Cyra's voice sounded a bit scratchy. "Keep them from lifting off if you can."

"Will do." Murphy dispensed with arming his weapons just yet. 'Disable the engines' sounded good in the vids but in real life things could go very badly very quickly if you shot at a ship's engines and the pilot certainly didn't want do risk blowing the ship up as long as it was still attached to the station. Instead he brought his ship in really closely, hoping they wouldn't risk a collision. He saw the shuttle, coming in from the other side of the station, only a the last moment.

"Whoa! Shit!"

"Say again, Murph!" Cyra shouted. The pilot had accidentally keyed the comm system, transmitting his surprised outcry to the squad of marines. "What was that?"

"A fucking shuttle just tried to ram me!" Her old friend sounded somewhat breathless. "Be right back. I need to deal with this asshole!"

The maiden was about to tell her marines they needed to hurry as they passed a window. "Bugger!" She growled, stopping dead in her tracks as she saw the strange vessel drift away from the station. "Murph, the ship's leaving, you need to do something!"

"I'm kinda busy here!" Not too long after this last transmission an explosion briefly bathed the metal structure outside in a warm yellow light. "There we go."

"Murph you need to hurry. I can't see the other ship anymore!"

"Don't worry. I got..."

"...And two more shuttles seem to be headed your way!"

"Yes, yes. I see them!" Murphy shouted angrily. "What the heck is going on here!?" There was another explosion somewhere out of Cyra's field of view. "Sorry Shep." The pilot sounded a little sheepish as he called in a few moments later. "I'm afraid the ship just went to FTL."

"Oh you've got to be bloody joking me!"

* * *

Alex risked a glance at his girlfriend as he strapped himself into his seat. Cyra still looked awfully angry as she stormed towards the gunship's cockpit, the rear ramp slowly closing behind her. For a second he was tempted to go after her but then thought better of it. He figured it was best to just leave the maden alone, instead of pestering her while she was working things out with the pilot. At least they were off this godawful station.

The scientist was glad to see that Cyra's mood had improved at least a little bit when she returned a few minutes later, taking a seat beside him just before he could feel the slight vertigo from the ship going to FTL travel.

"Are you alright?" Alex cautiously asked. He was quite surprised when she leaded against him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'll manage." The maiden sounded tired and for a moment there, she had the same blank expression he could see on the other marine's faces as well. "Don't worry about me." She forced a smile on her face.

"So...what happens now?" The archaeologist carefully put an arm around Cyra's midriff and pulled her a little closer. The maiden took her time before she answered, snuggling up to her boyfriend instead. Some officer school instructor without a doubt would have chastised her for showing weakness in front of her people. She didn't care. And neither did any of her marines by the looks of it.

"We're checking two or three possible destinations along the ship's last known vector." Cyra mumbled. "Maybe we get lucky." Judging from the way she'd said that the maiden wasn't very optimistic about their chances of success.

"And what if we're not?" Alex wanted to know.

"Then we're going to find ourselves a decent hotel somewhere and take it easy for a day or two."

"Oh, man." The scientist whispered. "That does sound kinda nice."

"It does." Cyra sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "Doesn't it?"

* * *

It took several days for Patrick to properly recover from the binge he'd gone on after he'd arrived on Oasis. Even so he didn't feel all that great as the left his hotel and stepped onto the strip. A headache being only a faint reminiscence of the worst hangover he'd even had, the young man told himself never to overindulge in alcohol again. Sure he'd told himself that before but this time he was actually going to do it. For sure. Like really. Absolutely. Definitely.

Patrick squinted because of the bright light as he absently watched tourists of every species he knew, casually strolling about the promenade. Oasis was famous for it's shopping even in citadel space. One could get pretty much anything within reason on this station. Including, of course, wares illegal under citadel laws, commonly referred to as 'specialty items' by the local dealers. The young Human walked over to a quite beautiful, artificial pond and leaned against the railing.

For a few moments he just stared into the water, watching fish as well as some more bizarre creatures appear and disappear in the murky water. If he could only remember what'd happened after that first whisky two days ago. Try as he might he just had no recollection of anything after a certain point. The only thing he did vaguely remember was talking to a very sexy Quarian.

He sighed and decided to forget about it. Somehow he'd found his way back to his hotel room with most of his stuff still where it was supposed to be. Tourism being a large part of Oasis' product, security was good around here. Certainly by Terminus standards.

Patrick pushed himself away from the rail walked up and down the strip for a while, looking for a pharmacy. He needed to get something against the headache. It wasn't bad but distracting and he wanted a clear head before he went looking for amusement. It took quite a while to find and appropriate store and he had to venture into one of the more notorious part of the station. Not that there weren't any pharmacies on the main strip but those asked absolutely outlandish prices. The ones in the side alleys were frequented by the locals and much cheaper.

As the young Human slowly sauntered back towards the entertainment districts, washing a pill down with some kind of caffeinated soft drink, he noticed a brightly painted hover truck parking next to an interior courtyard, blue lights flashing on it's top. Out of curiosity he walked over.

"What happened here?" He wanted to know as a Turian and a Human carried an obviously filled body bag out of the yard and put it on a floating stretcher.

"Quarian got her neck snapped." A Krogan said absently, taping around on a data pad. "Happens."

"Just like that?"

The Krogan showed his teeth. "Nah. Station scoundrel." He made a vague gesture towards the body bag. "Apparently she used to snuggle up to tourists, get them drunk or otherwise high and then strip 'em."

"Uh-huh?" Patrick swallowed. To say that this gave him the collywobbles would have been an understatement.

"Yeah." The Krogan security guy didn't notice the Human's sudden discomfort. "Probably tried to rip someone off she shouldn't have and got her ass killed." The large reptilian shrugged. "As I said, happens." He turned to his colleagues who were just shoving the stretcher into the ambulance. "Are we about done here?"

"We're good to go." The trio got into the van and drove off without paying Patrick any more attention. The Human stood there for a few moments then suddenly took off. He needed to check his stuff again. Urgently.


End file.
